


The Summoning

by bookhater95



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Reading the Books
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 72,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24895465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookhater95/pseuds/bookhater95
Summary: Ten year old Harry has no one in his life, and he's never believed otherwise, until there was a flash of green light, and this one hadn't come from his dreams. A reading the books fanfiction that contains no actual text from the books.  Co-authored and ultimately completed by bookhater95, you can now email for a copy with book context for only Philosopher's Stone.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 38





	1. The Summoning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Life that Never Lived ? (Philosopher's Stone)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18136403) by [bookhater95](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookhater95/pseuds/bookhater95). 



Dumbledore was in his office, looking fondly down at Fred and George Weasley from his study as McGonagall explained that she'd felt she had no choice but to bring them up here after they'd gone and convinced one of the students to have a go at the Whomping Willow. Perhaps they should consider having that removed now-

...

Tonks was standing in line, shaking from her pink hair to her steel boots, waiting for her name to be called any moment to take a test that would define her career. Behind her was a Ravenclaw she only knew of by name from all of their shared classes but had never spoken to, in front of her was a tall woman, Slytherin, who she was trying to chat casually with without stuttering too much. The students who had been called in ahead of them refused to say what their O. W. L. instructors had them doing, so they hadn't even a clue of what was to come. Tonks had just locked eyes with Charlie at the back of the que, and gave him a nervous grin when-

...

Remus was asleep, or at least trying to be. He lay out on the cot, thankful he had two more nights before he had to deal with his monthly fear yet again, and yet every day it wasn't that night still felt like a waking nightmare. The kind old woman who was now offering him room and board in exchange for his helping out around her property would soon recognize the patterns of his disappearance, and would grow suspicious of him like everyone else. He should leave now, save himself the trouble before she thought too deeply. Yet still he lay curled up under his blanket, his mind always elsewhere, where he never wanted it to be, then-

...

Sirius was where he always was, and probably always would be. He didn't bother closing his eyes much anymore, he saw the same thing on the inside of his lids as he did when they were open. The death of his brother, in all but blood, and who had caused it. It was all he saw anymore. Even if the dementors didn't live right outside, just out of distance but always present as a chill that would never leave him, he would always see that too pale skin and the look of shock on his face. He tried, futilely, to think of anything else, but all that accomplished was yet another man coming to mind, but this one hurt worse. Because he believed he'd done it, and if ever he saw him again, he'd kill him on sight, or at least Sirius hoped he would as he knew he deserved it. This wasn't helping either, so he finally decided he was done with his thoughts and tried to crawl to his feet to change instead as it happened.

...

Hermione was crossing the street on the way to the library. It was the first time her parents were letting her go anywhere all by herself, and as it was only a block away it was hardly the adventure as she so enjoyed reading about, but still, she walked with just a touch more spring in her step for how grown up she felt. Her foot was coming up to step onto the curb until-

...

Ron was outside playing with his dad. It was finally the Saturday he'd been promising for ages that he'd teach Ron how to properly catch and throw back the Quaffle. If Ron was good enough, he'd even try to convince his mother that he could have a go on an age old broom they had around the house. They were going to have to sell it come summer, so Ron was being persistent that his father let him try it out now. No need to inform him the twins had given him a ride on theirs over the summer, his dad would just think that Ron was a natural right off the bat. The red ball was in mid toss between the two, but then it wasn't.

...

Harry was in his cupboard under the stairs, watching a spider fix a web between the hinge and the corner. He was whispering to it, couldn't let the Dursleys hear him being any louder of course, telling it about his day at school and the english report he had due tomorrow. The spider didn't answer of course, and after a while Harry lost interest in that and was instead left to turn restlessly in his bed to face the wall. He pictured himself telling this to a nameless, faceless person instead, perhaps someone who would respond. He'd lost time's of wishes he'd made he could be telling his own parents this, what they would have said back. Face hidden from everything, he strained his mind back, just wanting to remember a small piece of them, but for all his trouble he received what he always had, a flash of green light. Then he blinked his eyes sharply behind the glasses, to find he wasn't in his cupboard anymore.


	2. THE BOY WHO LIVED

He did a quick head count and saw seven people, none of which he recognized. One girl roughly his age had large bushy brown hair and large teeth and stood in the corner directly across from him. Three of them were most likely related, all with bright red hair, the oldest of which had thinning hair grabbed what must be his youngest and pulled him close behind him, who looked to be about Harry's age. The other was definitely in his teens and stockier built, but with the same distinct coloring, only across the room standing next to a girl about his age with bright pink hair. While she was by far the most interesting to look at, shouting quickly began at the other end of the room drawing the rest of the attention.

A dark haired, terrifying looking man seemed to be the cause of it. His skin looked unnatural as if he'd never had a day of sun or a proper meal, with filthy matted hair and wild eyes as he was held pinned against a wall with another man trying to strangle him. He was a bit taller with light brown hair that seemed to gray streaked for his age, but that clearly wasn't stopping him trying to throttle the life out of the other man as he shouted something at him. Harry couldn't understand the exact words, they were too emotional all over; sometimes shouting and sometimes hissing in his face. For that matter Harry rarely liked to listen to any actual shouting going on and much prefered to be in his cupboard while his Uncle was doing it rather than on the outside facing him, so Harry was quite glad when the last man looked like he was trying to step in.

He first pulled, was that a stick? Regardless what it actually was, he pulled it out of his pocket, but when that did nothing he marched forward and grabbed the deranged person, saying in a cold and stern voice, "Remus, that is enough."

There were several beats where nothing changed, but then the man's arm relaxed and the darker one fell to the floor in a slump, rubbing at his throat with a terrifying twist of his lips. His voice came out a rasp, like it had been a long time since he'd used it, or because of his throat almost caving in, both were likely, but he spoke with a tight familiarity, "surprised how long it took you to do that. Thought for sure you'd have done it ages ago, course that means you'd have had to show up to-"

The man named Remus lashed out and kicked him, causing the words to cut off and for him to double over coughing and panting.

The eldest man who had intervened, who was dressed rather funny now that Harry looked properly at him with long powder blue robes embroidered with gold and a white beard so long he could tuck it into his belt, laid another restraining hand on the man named Remus and instructed, "I said, that is enough. He will be taken back to-"

"What in Merlin's name are you doing this to me for Dumbledore!?" The angry man turned half his attention away from the one on the floor, though his body clearly showed a will to strike the second he tried to move again, but before he could keep shouting, his face went slack with shock as he started glancing at his surroundings as he demanded, "where are we?"

"I've not the faintest idea," he murmuered back, his voice losing its strick tone to take on a cautioning one, "but I implore you Remus not to commit murder until we do. My magic isn't working in here, something is amiss, and I'd like to resolve it and put that man back where he belongs in one piece."

Remus made a tsk noise to show how much he cared for that idea, now frowning at the other occupants who were watching him with some deep concern, all eyes still flickering to the one on the floor with mingled terror.

The eldest redhead still had his charge clutched to his side and at some point had even moved to stand in front of the other two, a stick in his own hand as if he were prepared to use a deadly weapon any second. He addressed the white haired man first though, "well I can't say it's improving my mood that you've no idea what's going on either Dumbledore. Can't we at least find some way to confine that madman with my kids in here?"

"Until we know what's going on, Arthur, I'd suggest-" but he broke off. His own eyes had been examining every inch of their surrounding walls, a calming dark blue in color, landing first on Hermione and trying to smile pleasantly at her, but his investigation had finally landed in Harry's tucked away corner. Harry couldn't help tensing in fright. With nowhere to run and surrounded on all sides, he had no way to escape, but somehow he just knew this was his fault and he'd better find a way. "Harry?"

His name caused a chain reaction of heads whipping right at him, causing his knees to start buckling so hard he began to sink to the floor as well in his own fright. Never before had he so many eyes on him at once, and when anyone was watching him it was always to make sure he hadn't done anything wrong. His conclusion seemed irrefutably true now as there was no way this man could know his name unless he was somehow the cause of what was going on.

His eyes quickly flinched away from the piercing blue ones, quickly passed over the politely shocked faces of that group of four, and back over to the downright terrified of the last two. For a reason Harry couldn't explain, his eyes lingered on the dark haired man on the floor, watching his expression change from the cruel expression before to something resembling awestruck. Life finally colored that skeleton face, and without seeming to realize he was doing it he twitched like he was going to come forward, but then a boot stamped down on his hand and he howled in pain, glaring with hatred up at Remus once again as he said quite clearly, "you move one inch towards him and I'll rip your bleeding head off, Dumbleodre be damned." He did not remove his foot until the other stopped trying to wrench his fingers away and his cursing faded out.

"Harry Potter?" The red head of his age had finally poked his head around his father's knees and was watching the corner with interest along with everyone else now, but Harry at least found his curious eyes much easier to meet, finding them a dark blue with a long nose making the freckles on his face seem to stand out all the more. He gave Harry a friendly smile which Harry tried to return, but was distracted by the man who seemed to be the most in charge coming towards him.

Harry kept his back flat against the wall, watching his approach wearily, but he stopped several paces away and crouched down to be on Harry's height, and Harry was surprised to see a genuine smile behind his beard as well. He spoke in a soft, far gentler tone than he'd yet used as he said, "Hello Harry, it's alright. No one here's going to hurt you."

Harry said nothing, couldn't think of anything to say. He certainly had more questions running across his mind than he ever had in his life, number one of which was did the Dursleys know he was out of his cupboard because if not he needed to get back there pronto.

"Tonks!" The girl with pink hair caught everyone's attention as she was cautioned by the one of her age for leaving the sanctity of their corner, but instead of heading towards either party she was marching towards the center of the room where no one had taken an interest yet. There were couches arranged in a square like formation, with a table in the middle housing books and a note on top. This Tonks, who had clearly grown bored sitting on the sidelines watching everything, seemed to have decided that something else had caught her attention and it was far more interesting than people talking to each other.

Ignoring the attempts of the red head trying to catch her attention and call her back, she instead picked up the note, her eyes flickering across the short print, and then declared, "think I know why we're here at least."

Dumbledore straightened up and went to her side now, holding out his hand palm up and asking, "may I?"

She handed it over, and the room watched in silence as his own eyes went across the words several times before he announced, "well, we are in a pickle."

"What is going on Dumbeldore?" Remus demanded again, sounding more strained the more he asked.

He looked back towards him before meeting the eyes of everyone in the room and announcing, "we have been kidnapped, and placed in the conundrum of, ah how did this writer put it-" his eyes went back to the letters and read out, "reading the life of Harry for the greater good." HIs face drew several more lines as he finished that.

He set the note back down on the table and picked up one of the smaller books with a one stamped on the side and began investigating it.

"You must be joking?" Remus demanded, watching Dumbledore as if he'd gone senile. "We need to get out of here, not sit around reading anything."

Dumbledore didn't answer, but instead walked back over to him and had him read the note. His sharp eyes scanned the words before they went back to Harry, then the pile of books, before throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Instead of passing it around," Tonks snorted as she walked towards them, "how about I read that aloud, be much quicker."

"Tonks," her friend tried to protest again, "don't go near him."

His eyes were lingering on the dark haired man on the floor, who hadn't taken his eyes off Harry this whole time.

This Tonks seemed unconcerned though, as she plucked the note away and read, "first of all, sorry. I'm sure this is all kinds of startling for you, but there really wasn't a more gentle way to do this. The seven books that landed with this paper are a recording of Harry Potter's life, and I've sent these knowing reading the life of Harry is for the greater good . My hope is that you read these in time to stop so much destruction from happening. Again, sorry this is all so vague, but there's not much else to say except I hope once you start you'll believe the truth in this and fix the wrongs that come. Time has frozen while you're in here, food will be regularly supplied, magic can not be used, you all must be present otherwise the books will seal themselves, and you each have your own room. Try to have fun."

Arthur looked dumbfounded as he said, "what's all this? What's this to do with my kids?"

His eyes more than anyones kept flickering to that man on the floor whom everyone seemed so afraid of, clearly keeping his boys at his side for this reason.

"I do not know Arthur," Dumbleodre sighed, "but one thing that was irrefutably true, our magic is not working. We have no way to leave here, and as none of us have yet to come to any harm though clearly we could have, I see no other alternative."

"Bit invasive for the lad though," Tonks snorted, without a trace of repentance as she met her Headmaster's eyes. "Reading about Harry's life, we haven't even asked him if he's okay with it."

All eyes turned back to Harry, who flushed in shock. He had understood one word in ten of what was going on around him, but he had gathered that it was centered around him.

"Wotcher Harry?" Tonks called his attention, and when Harry met her eyes he found them a startling purple. "What do you say?"

He hesitated for a long time, but finally his mind turned back on and he stuttered out, "ah, yeah, anything to help."

"Brilliant," she beamed, plucking the book away and beginning to skip back to the couches. Her foot caught on the corner of it, so as she tried to flip over onto the seat she instead landed with a face plant, but she sat up fast enough and corrected herself, declaring, "I'll read first shall I?"

Her friend was the first to react, going over and plopping down beside her as if this was the most normal thing in the world, but Arthur instead kept his attention on Harry and said in a warm voice, "I'm sorry, this must be most startling of all for you. My name's Arthur Weasley, and the two redheads are my boys Ron," he gestured to the one still at his side, "and Charlie. That's his friend from school who goes by Tonks," the girl with pink hair waved enthusiastically as she kept peaking at him from over the couch. "And who are you?" He finished politely towards Hermione.

She hesitated for a very long time, the ingrained habit of her parents not to talk to strangers more prominent than anything, but the compulsion against answering a question ultimately escaped her as she told her full name.

Ron gave her a polite enough smile and waved her over to come sit down, and after watching them for several more moments took an uneasy seat by herself for now, her eyes steadily on the book in Tonks' hand.

"The older man over there is Albus Dumbledore, and ah-" Arthur had continued, but faltered there.

Dumbleodre cleared his throat and gestured first and the strangler, "this is Remus Lupin," and the strangled, "and Sirius Black."

"Can't imagine what Merlin had in mind with him here," Tonks' mock whispered for everyone loud enough to hear, "I heard he's so out of his mind he wouldn't know how to use a door."

Charlie visibly pinched her arm, scolding in a much lower tone but still audible for all to hear, "please don't smart off to the maniac!"

Tonks was rubbing at her arm with a pout, but Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and kept attention, "I am sure Black will behave perfectly sound, he has no more space to go than we do." There was something undercurrent in his tone though, something that did not incline Harry to be leaving the safety of his corner and it wasn't even directed at him. His mind flashed back to how he'd convinced Remus to let him go without touching him. This Dumbledore, despite his clear age, was not one to be trifled with.

Dumbledore met Remus' eyes and walked to the couches as well, and after throwing one more disgusted look at the floor space, he followed. Black made no indication he'd heard a word of anything going on around him, his eyes had been transfixed on Harry for so long he was starting to get an itch inside his skin, but when the Weasleys made towards the couches as well, and Ron beckoned at him, Harry decided to ignore him for now as much as everyone else was clearly trying to. He took the seat as far away from everyone as possible, and wondered if he could get away with pushing a seat back into the corner, but knew better than to suggest such a thing.

Tonks decided to begin without a trace of unease, seemingly as at home in this tense environment as she would be in her own room.

Tonks read the chapter title without a trace of confusion, and when Harry glanced around the room he saw that no one else looked likely to ask about this. These people were clearly all in on something he had no idea of, so he kept his mouth shut and declined asking who that boy was.

.

Harry gave a small nod of agreement. These books were certainly accurate.

Remus felt his face twitch in agitation as he recognized the last name of the family Harry was supposedly staying with, the one Dumbledore had mentioned when he'd convinced Remus not to go looking for Harry. At least now he'd get to hear first hand if the headmaster had made the right decision.

"What are drills?" Arthur directed at Harry eagerly.

It seemed to take him a few moments to realize he was being spoken to, and a few more for him to find his tongue as he uneasily answered, "ah, they're machines that make holes in the ground."

"Facinainting," he said at once, his eyes lighting all the more as he realized that he was talking to someone raised purly by muggles, he'd know all sorts of things! "Tell me, do they run on-"

"Arthur," Dumbeldore cut in with kindness coloring his stern tone. "Let's not pester the boy for now, I'm sure you will have plenty of time to talk to him later."

"Oh, yes of course," he admitted, sitting back and trying to contain himself. The boy was clearly on edge around all of them, no need to make things worse.

Remus felt something twitch in his throat, like he wanted to laugh about all the times Lily had mentioned Petunia spying on people in her youth as well, but the emotion never bubbled to high that he outwardly showed it.

Arthur gave a small little smile, knowing that all parents felt that way about their children, he knew that he did about all of his.

In the shadowy corner, everyone pretended to ignore whatever had caused Black to twitch. Remus most of all had to grit his teeth to stop himself lunging forward and trying to kill him again for that name having to be spoken in past tense at all.

Harry was the only one who didn't notice the man's odd reaction, because he sat up a little straighter in shock. That pink haired girl had said his last name in plural, as in more than one of him. Like his parents perhaps?

Harry slumped back in his seat in disappointment as he quickly came to the conclusion this was most likely all that would be spoken of them, things he already knew. He could never be lucky enough to hear things about his parents, like even their names.

The others noticed Harry's odd reaction, but didn't really know what to make of it. They were sure he was just upset hearing about his parents in past tense like they were.

Charlie and Tonks exchanged a surprised look, wondering at how that could be. Harry had gone to live with a family who'd had no interest in him before they decided to raise him? That must have been an odd conversation when they'd decided to take him in.

Remus could feel his unease growing the longer this went on. Dumbledore had assured him Harry had been placed in a good, safe home, but this was far too much like what Lily had always said about her sister hating everything to do with magic. He glanced for the millionth time in under a minute at Harry, almost a replica of his father, and still didn't like what he saw. Harry was too skinny, it looked almost unhealthy, and was dressed almost as bad as Remus himself, which was not a good comparison. Perhaps he'd just been sucked in here during a time where he'd been in trash clothes? That couldn't be how he dressed all the time, surely this attitude faded when they began raising Harry...right?

Hermeione's eyes went incredibly wide with interest, her mind going back to all the times strange things had happened to her. She tried desperately to think up if this really could all somehow be connected to her.

Harry and Hermione were the only two who leaned slightly in shock at what Tonks had just read, but then they realized this and the pair exchanged a wide eyed stare.

Arthur made a surprised, choking noise in shock, knowing he'd never have let his children be doing such a thing. Exactly what kind of parents were these Dursleys?

Dumbledore smiled softly to himself as he remembered back to this day, of McGonagall asking for a map of the neighborhood Lily Potter's sister resided in. He'd handed it over without question, and had always suspected his second in command of taking on the task of spending the day in that area to keep an eye on Lily's extended family, no matter how much the sister disliked them, in light of the rumors and news she'd been hearing about.

While Remus, and one other person that he would not be referring to, and Dumbledore were probably the only people who knew right off the bat who this cat would be, the other four only felt some confusion as to what magical happenings were going on at all in the area, while Harry and Hermione yet again exchanged perturbed looks, clearly feeling they were missing something.

"Why's that strange?" Ron asked his dad in surprise, as it was mainly what his own parents wore.

"Muggles don't wear cloaks," Arthur explained, glancing at Harry and Hermione, though only Hermione was wearing a light coat. He pointed it out as he said, "they more commonly wear jackets of warm material."

Hermione pulled the material around her just a little more tightly defensively, as if expecting to be made fun of at any moment, but then Ron just smiled at her and the girl felt herself relax again before Tonks moved on.

Neither Harry nor Hermione quite got up the courage to ask the same, why cloaks would be worn at all.

Harry was the only one who didn't look very shocked at such a severe reaction to something so minor. Even if Muggles didn't wear them, that was quite a comment about something as silly as what someone else would wear.

Arthur chuckled slightly under his breath, he always enjoyed hearing the ways Muggles would explain away magic.

Hermione and Harry's mind boggled at such a thing, but again they looked around and saw they were the only ones.

Ron was now just as confused as the other two his own age, though for the opposite reason. He turned and tugged on the sleeve of his dad's robes, again asking, "how come they're all gawking at something like that?"

"Muggles don't use owls to communicate," Arthur explained patiently. "This would be quite a sight for them."

Ron went wide eyed in surprise, trying to figure out how they would send mail then, did they walk it everywhere?

Harry's mind felt like it was lagging five sentences behind the more he heard the elders around him speak, they kept saying such odd things he couldn't even begin to form a question even if he could bring himself to ask what they meant.

Hermione was having the same problem, but having a harder time stuffing down her own questions. The other boy wasn't getting in trouble for interrupting though, so perhaps she wouldn't as well? She lost her nerve as the pink haired girl continued.

"Sounds like a lovely day at the office," Charlie muttered in confusion, wondering why anyone would consider shouting at all those people a normal day.

The others had long since realized this was the day of the Boy Who Lived story was taking place, most likely the day after Halloween if not a few extra days ahead.

Remus felt something tight strangling his throat as he thought about hearing this all over again, now with the man responsible in the same room. He'd be lucky if he didn't lose his temper and murder him when the thick of it all was being explained.

Harry couldn't crush that hope trying to come forward again, at his name being mentioned like that. Of course the first question that sprung to mind is why all of these people knew his name at all, but the more insistent one that wouldn't leave him was who were these other Potters? Could he actually have more family out there besides the Durslesys?

"Yes it is," Tonks scoffed, "Harry's the last of his line."

Harry felt like the world was crashing down around him at once, feeling stupid for ever intertaining such a thing otherwise. He hunkered down so low in his seat he looked like he was trying to bury himself out of sight, but Tonks misunderstood and thought his disappointment was in fact sorrow and instead quickly read on.

Ron gave a slight laugh, thinking Harvey Potter didn't have the same ring to it, but then felt confused again at why someone wouldn't know their own nephew's name. Ron had a huge extended family, and he was sure they all knew his name at least in passing.

Against his own wishes, Harry still couldn't help listening in with desperate longing. Even if this was proof that he was stuck with the Dursleys for life, this book did keep hinting at something. Something about his mother that Aunt Petunia would never mention. He really hoped the book would quit beating around and say it!

Hermione easily made the connection that this You-Know-Who was what had all of these strangely dressed people in such a good mood, and finally couldn't stop the question bursting out of her, "who's You-Know-Who?"

She got a startled and curios look from all present, flushing in shock and sitting back in her seat, but then Dumbledore gave her a kind smile as he explained, "his true name is Voldemort-" and seemed to ignore nearly everyone around him except Remus shivering, "and he is a powerful Dark Wizard who was intent on destroying the world as we knew it. This chapter seems to be marking the day of his downfall by young Harry hear."

"Wh-what!" Harry spluttered in shock, sure he'd heard wrong.

Dumbledore turned to him in surprise, which quickly turned to scrutiny as he said, "yes Harry, this has everything to do with you. Hasn't your Aunt and Uncle spoken to you about this yet?"

Harry's gaping expression was all the answer they needed, and Dumbloedre frowned behind his beard in concern. He'd left instructions for the Dursleys to have explained all of this to Harry, and they'd clearly done nothing of the sort. He knew this should be explained to him more properly, but he was now even more afraid of overloading the boy with too much information. He waited a few beats for Harry to indicate if he wanted to know more or not, but when his expression didn't change, Dumbeldore instead waved Tonks to go on for now.

"What is a Muggle?" Hermionen interpreted to ask again, as clearly she hadn't been made fun of for doing it last time.

"A non magical person," Ron answered with a shrug.

Hermione's eyebrows krept towards her forehead as she demanded, "as opposed to?"

"Well, a wizard of course," Ron chuckled like she was being daft.

Hermione's face couldn't have looked more shocked, and Ron blinked in surprise as he realized this could be a new concept to her. Was she a Muggle? If so, why was she here? She hadn't recognized Harry like the rest of them had, so maybe he shouldn't have been saying anything to her. He threw a panicked look at his dad, wondering if he was going to get into trouble for speaking about these things, but Arthur gave him an unconcerned smile as he explained for both of them, "my best guess Hermione, is that you are most likely a muggle born. Perhaps you become a friend of Harry's at some point, with Ron. That's all I can imagine of why you two were brought along."

"And the rest of us?" Tonks scoffed, as no one else in here had much to do with Harry Potter as far as she knew.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see," Dumbledore interrupted.

Charlie frowned in pity for that kid Dudley as well as Harry, as he'd already worked out that these must be the rumored Muggles Harry Potter was living with. It didn't sound like a very fun home for anyone who didn't believe in imagination.

"No," Hermione smiled as she began babbling about one of her favorite animals, "cats startle quite easily, so this man making such a noise surely would have startled it away. Of course, if it's an indoor cat that possibly escaped it could be more used to-" she suddenly cut herself off with a deep blush, waiting for someone to start laughing at her like usual while she kept going breathlessly on, but to her surprise no one was giggling. Most of them were giving her indulgent smiles, which caused her to flush in surprise. When she didn't keep going though, Tonks did.

Arthur gave a slight tisk noise, knowing that never went down well with a Missus.

"His parents will be thrilled," Ron snickered, remembering the response he'd get from his parents whenever he said that.

"Ooh, that was my dad!" Tonks exclaimed with a smile. "He's a newscaster!"

"That's so cool that your dad's on the phelyvision," Ron yelped.

"Television," Tonks quickly corrected, "and yeah, he loves it."

Arthur couldn't help smiling indulgently, as he remembered his family had joined in on the celebrations that night as well. Fred had used some accidental magic and set off all the magical fireworks they'd had at the time, so it had been a very memorable occasion for his family indeed.

Remus huffed and rolled his eyes, knowing Lily never made contact with Petunia under a regular basis, then his face sowered all the more and he gave another hateful look towards the dark corner as from that day and beyond Lily would never have the chance to again.

Harry gasped wildly as a fantastic idea all came together for him. Dumbledore had said this all had something to do with him, and his Uncle Vernon had said that his mother had a crowd that was celebrating. Was it possible, had his mum been a witch like those around him? He had to bite down on his own tongue, he'd never wanted to ask a question so bad in his life, but he was fooling himself. Even if for some strange reason the people around him knew his name, it was ludicrous to think that extended to something like his parents name as well.

"What's he supposed to be named?" Ron chuckled, did all Muggles expect wizards to be named Merlin or something?

Harry couldn't stop an explosion from going off inside of him as he realized this confirmed it. Both of his parents had in fact been magical. It was the first scrap of information he'd ever learned about them, so he suddenly didn't care about anything else in the world. He clung to that information, watching this pink haired girl go on with wide desperate eyes as he silently begged for more.

Even the reminder that Harry was the thing infecting their life as they so often put it, that couldn't bring Harry's mood down now.

Hermione was wriggling with excitement about this cat, could it be magical as well? Hadn't they called it something earlier, an animagus? Her hands were shaking at the thought of asking someone where the nearest book on that could be.

"How did you manage that without the cracking noise?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"I disillusioned myself up until that point, I had apparated from a further away point," Dumbledore replied simply.

Harry was watching Dumbledore with high interest, wondering why this man was on Private Drive, and still what all this had to do with him?

"What are street lamps?" Arthur interrupted eagerly, his mind picturing the whole ground being lit from below.

"They're just normal lamps hung along the street," Tonks shrugged, "they turn on when it gets dark."

"That's so cool," Charlie exclaimed. "I've never seen a magical object that could affect Muggle things."

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Dumbledore smiled, "it is an invention of my own design."

Hermione gasped, her eyes going so wide they were likely to fall out of her head. That woman could turn into a cat! The news didn't seem to strike anyone else except Harry, but Hermione already felt so out of the loop that she still felt embarrassed and didn't ask for more information about this like she so wanted to.

Dumbledore chuckled, as he'd been the one to train McGonagall on her animagus form, as she quite well knew.

Arthur couldn't help a little laugh, just thinking of the idea of dressing as a Muggle simply to stand around talking about this sounded ridiculous to him. Surely McGonagall knew the thought wouldn't have crossed the mind of most of their kind.

"I'm positive we'd wrangle something together to make them forget again," Charlie laughed.

"How does she not know what a lemon drop is?" Hermione blurted out.

"I don't know what one is," Ron told her with a ruffled brow.

"It's a Muggle sweet," Tonks said like that answered both questions before moving on.

Ron certainly thought it was, he wanted to try one now as he was always curious about new candies.

Tonks hadn't said his proper name but had instead called him You-Know-Who again, causing Dumbledore to tisk at her lightly and instruct, "Ms. Tonks, I have never called him by that."

"Sorry sir," Tonks shrugged without remorse, "but I can't bring myself to be saying that." She blasted on without argument.

Remus rolled his eyes as Tonks continued doing that despite Dumbledore giving her a piercing look to continue to show his disapproval. The girl clearly didn't care, and it seemed to be leaving the others at ease. He may have actually laughed at the situation at another time, but for now he was too busy keeping a threatening eye on the far corner to make sure Voldemort's number two didn't move while he thought no one was watching.

"Wow, never knew you could get anyone besides yourself to say that sir," Charlie said.

Dumbledore nodded and agreed, "it is a hard task, but Minerva will when push comes to shove."

Arthur coughed like he was trying to cover a laugh, while Tonks and Charlie didn't even bother and laughed outright.

Remus was stiffening in his chair, not wanting to relive this conversation, knowing Dumbledore had it only days before he'd told Remus all of this himself. If only he hadn't been out of the country when this had happened on that stupid mission, if only he'd been there, maybe he could have stopped all of this.

Harry's jaw flopped open as those two names began pinging around inside his head. James and Lily, Lily and James. Was it possible? He could hardly think who else this McGonagall could be talking about. Were those finally the names of his parents?

Harry's reaction had been the most vivid of all, drawing some odd looks from the others though no one asked as it felt rather rude. No one, not even the two of them, noticed Remus and Sirius flinching in unison at those names.

Harry was sure his brain was short circuiting, or that he was hallucinating. He was learning more in this one chapter than he had in his ten years of life. Now he could finally put names to the two people he'd always been most desperate to meet, Lily and James he kept chanting in his head like a mantra, but they'd also been wizards, and Harry was somehow the reason that some Dark Lord was gone! Did the Dursleys really know all of this and had never said a word of it to him? Dumbledore had certainly implied as much. He looked up to see Dumbledore's blue eyes and got the feeling of being x-rayed, and quickly looked away but still couldn't quite mask the shock that was drowning him.

Harry slumped back into his seat, though admittedly not nearly as disappointed that Dumbledore didn't know this answer as he once might have thought he was. He was still too interested to know if McGonagall would tell anything else about his parents.

"Why was Hagrid telling anyone?" Remus spluttered in surprise, and Harry watched him in surprise as what he thought was protectiveness made him glare at Dumbledore for that. Why would this man care though? "You told me not a soul except you knew where Harry was, you wouldn't even tell me."

"Calm yourself Remus," Dumbledore said. "I trust Hagrid with my life, as well as Minerva. I was in quite a rush and informed Hagrid that he should run across her on his way to go and fetch Harry, to tell her where she could meet me if she so chose. I was under the impression she had been planning to make a visit to Petunia when she'd heard the news, so she was going to be there regardless."

Remus still muttered under his breath before saying in a less snappy voice, "still don't think that's a good idea, Merlin knows who he's told since then."

"No one can reach Harry where he is now, he is safe," Dumbledore promised.

Harry watched Remus who still looked less than pleased but stopped his arguing. Harry still couldn't understand why he would care at all, or the other man. Harry had been watching him the whole time Remus and Dumbledore had been talking, and it was the first time this Black's eyes had really gone away from Harry to focus on Dumbledore. He'd only seemed to relax and go back to subtly watch Harry when Dumbledore had assured Harry was safe. Why would either of them care though?

Harry felt his spirits sinking lower the longer he heard about this, now realizing that he could blame where he lived on this Dumbledore. This man certainly didn't care what had happened to him once he was there, he certainly didn't feel safe in that house by any means.

"She's got you there sir," Tonks agreed. "What exactly did you think you could write to them to explain all of this?"

"I am afraid Ms. Tonks, that that is private information I will not be sharing," Dumbledore said simply.

Tonks pouted for a moment and looked like she was going to argue before Charlie convinced her to go on.

Harry's mouth was stretching wide with horror as he now understood why all of these people knew his name. He was the reason the darkest wizard had disappeared! What on earth had he done? Those around him threw him curious looks while Tonks read that, and Harry startled in shock and tried to bury himself in the cushions and examine this later.

Remus groaned and tensed up like he expected a bomb to go off, his eyes narrowing with venom towards the back corner. No one understood such a response, or why his face flickered to shock when the silence continued. Sirius had never once in his life missed an opportunity to tell a Sirius/ serious joke, and Remus had been fully prepared to rant and possibly strike him when he made it now for having the gall to say such a joke now after what he'd done to James. Nothing happened though, Sirius hadn't even twitched at his old favorite joke.

Tonks was watching Remus with deep concern, he was acting more mad then the madman, but decided to keep going anyways.

While Harry appreciated the thought, what he was feeling now confirmed he'd never really be old enough to 'take it.' He wished that Dumbledore had picked someone else who would have said something about it at all.

No one noticed Sirius frowning, wondering why that description should mean something to him, why the mention of Hagrid and a motorcycle should remind him of something. Had he possibly owned a motorcycle at some point? The memory wouldn't come to mind.

Remus tensed like a coiled spring, his face twisting with hate as he looked about saying something, but-

"Shove it Lupin," the shadows snarled. "If you wanted a go at me, you should have done it at any time over the ten f'ing years you had, not when you're forced into my company. I don't want to hear it."

Whether to avoid a fight, not likely as far as Harry could tell of Tonks, or because Charlie was waving her on pleadingly, she did skip past the moment.

"Bristol isn't anywhere near Godric's Hollow," Arthur pointed out to try and get past the sticky silence that was now in the room.

"I had Hagrid take as round about a way as he pleased, and suggested several false routes for him to take on the journey." Dumbledore explained. "I wanted absolutely no chance that someone had followed Hagrid, even if I had already put the wards up before Harry had landed. It was safer that way."

Harry ran his fingers over the raised mark. He'd always liked his scar, it was the only unique thing about him he could ever claim. He'd never had a reason before now to doubt that it had come from that car crash, now he realized it meant something so much more.

Remus had to pinch the bridge of his nose to stop himself repeating his earlier actions and make sure Black didn't say some dog comment like he so remembered him doing. No matter how hard he'd tried over the years, even now whenever he heard someone saying anything of the sort he could all but hear Sirius' voice next to him spouting that old joke in that old tone. Still though, no voice spoke up besides Tonks'.

Harry was blinking so much behind his glasses he looked like he was having an attack, but Harry just couldn't get over his shock. Why would this complete stranger be crying over him like this? Why had this McGonagall cared where he stayed?

Remus stiffened for a whole new reason, but waited to hear Dumbledore explain himself.

Sirius felt a lurch inside of himself, now that he was really concentrating he could dreg up the memory of his greatest regret of letting Hagrid take Harry away, because he thought he'd be safer. Of course he could still remember such a terrible thing as watching Harry leave those ten years ago, he still had not a speck of feeling for something good like his bike.

"You just left him on the doorstep?" Remus spluttered in disgust.

"You don't play ding-dong-ditch with a kid," Tonks nodded in agreement as she looked at Dumbledore.

"Harry was perfectly safe and warm, I temporarily enchanted those blankets to keep him such," Dumbledore replied. "I had no wish to be there when the Dursleys awoke, a wizard dropping him off would not have made a good first impression. I did not truly leave the area but instead remained where I was, disillusioned, until Petunia took him inside for good."

Harry winced and rubbed at his arm, thinking that was the least of his future problems.

"Chapter's over," Tonks announced, passing the book to Charlie without asking.


	3. THE VANISHING GLASS

Charlie rolled his eyes at his best friend as he was handed the book without her asking whether he even wanted a turn, but this time in particular it wasn't worth starting an argument over, so he flipped to the right page and began reading the chapter title.

"Sounds like we're going to hear about accidental magic," Ron chuckled as he thought a few times he'd made a few things vanish, like Percy's glasses once when he'd been telling Ron off last night. They'd found his glasses out in the garden an hour later, but it had been funny to see his brother stumbling around until then.

Harry and Hermione watched him in confusion, they had no idea what he was talking about, but Charlie wasn't paying them much mind.

"How come they wouldn't have any pictures of you up?" Tonks asked him in surprise.

Harry gave her a very strange look back, wondering why they even would?

When he didn't answer, Charlie glanced from the pages to Harry and back and started to get an uneasy feeling about the boy who lived. Kids his age should be huge balls of energy, constantly talkative and the likes of all his brothers. Yet Harry had only spoken once so far, and only when spoken to. Charlie's mind flashed back to that first chapter, and how uneasy those relatives of Harry's made him feel because they'd taken in a virtual stranger. Now here, in the first paragraph, he was already seeing that they didn't exactly seem to have gone out of their way to treat him as they would Dudley.

The silence kept dragging on, and so Charlie just decided to keep reading when an answer clearly wasn't coming.

Remus huffed in outrage, his eyes narrowing shrewdly like he was glaring at Petunia for yelling at Harry like that first thing in the morning. What had he done to deserve that?

Sirius cocked his head to the side in confusion, the first sign if anyone had been watching for it, that he was actually paying attention to them. He couldn't help it though, his attention was finally dragged away from studying Harry, and not liking one bit what he was seeing, to wondering why the boy could hear something like that. It wasn't that small of a house, he shouldn't have been able to perfectly hear that from up the stairs.

"How could you remember such a thing?" Ron chuckled, as he could never remember where he left his socks, let alone a memory of so far back.

"There's all sorts of studies on what the unconscious mind can bring up while you're asleep," Hermione began explaining with a bright smile. "Perhaps Harry was thinking of something just before he dozed off that-"

"Alright Hermione," Tonks cut her off with a friendly smile, getting the feeling she'd have to be doing this quite a bit. "That's interesting, but let's keep things on point."

Hermione flushed and sat back, feeling chastid. Tonks felt bad at once, she hadn't meant to upset the kid, but Charlie kept going.

"You cook around there often?" Remus asked in a friendly enough, conversational tone.

Harry looked at him in surprise, there was something he was trying to hide in his voice about that question, but he'd never been told not to say anything about this so he shrugged and muttered, "yeah, most mornings."

Remus kept the smile in place even as he turned flashing eyes towards Dumbledore, a dark questioning look that he knew Dumbledore would pick up on. Something about this wasn't sitting right with any of them.

Dumbledore didn't exactly acknowledge it.

Harry couldn't stop a groan as his mind flashed back to almost a month ago now and Dudley's most recent birthday. Whatever this book was fixing to show, please let it not be that one.

Ron shivered and leaned a little bit closer to his dad in disgust at the thought of finding a spider in one of his socks. He'd have his Mum burn the pair.

"How can you get used to that?" Ron demanded in disgust.

Harry gave an absent shrug, not understanding how to explain that they were just commonplace where he slept.

"You don't like spiders?" Hermione asked gently, to break the awkward silence of Harry not answering again.

"I hate them," Ron declared. "My brother once turned a toy of mine into one accidentally while I was holding it and-" he broke off with another shiver while Arthur gave him a gentle rub on the back and waved Charlie on. Ron was clearly embarrassed by his outburst when he noticed Hermione trying to suppress giggles.

Charlie gaped down at the words he'd just read with open mouthed shock, not understanding for a second how a kid could be forced to sleep there! His reaction was nothing to the shouting that quickly erupted.

Sirius had surged to his feet, growling like an animal as he shouted at Dumbledore, "are you kidding me! You put him there, and that's how they treat him!"

Remus moved towards him with a demonic look as he snapped "Why are you pretending to care? This is your fault! You got his parents killed," he shoved him so hard he crashed back into the wall, "your the reason he's living there instead of with them! You-"

Sirius tried to dart past him, but Remus grabbed his shoulder and tried to spin him back around, he had a lot more yelling to get out of his system, but then Sirius headbutted him so hard in the nose Remus crashed back clutching the blood spurting out. Sirius then darted out of the room through the door.

The moment he was out of sight, the book nearly slammed shut on Charlie's fingers and would have removed one of them if he hadn't gotten it out of the way in time. He tried to pry it back open but nothing was happening. He glanced back up at the others to see Dumbledore following Black, and Tonks hovering uneasily over Remus.

She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and began trying to push his hands out of the way, wiping at the blood trying to leak into his mouth as she hissed in pity and told him, "you're going to have some wicked black eyes for this." She paused and cocked her head to the side as she studied him and added on, "on top of the circles you've already got. When's the last time you have some decent sleep?"

"Well it won't be happening any time soon," he groaned, still keeping one hand in place on his misshapen nose and suddenly blank eyes on the door.

There was a long beat of silence while no one in the room spoke, no one knew what to say to what just happened, until Tonks walked towards that door as well, grabbing Remus' sleeve to take him with her as she said, "lets see if we can't find a bathroom in this place, get some water to help with this."

The door dropped them into a kitchen area with a long table and all the set up one could ask for a meal of nine like they would later be needing. Tonks dragged him over to the sink, began properly washing the blood off his face, then turned towards the fridge looking rather impressed. "I suppose this is why our magic was turned off. On Top of not killing each other, they stuck appliances in this place. Charlie's dad's going to go nuts when he sees this." She opened the freezer attached to the refrigerator and began digging around for some ice, talking over her shoulder, "well what we just heard does explain a bit about that Harry huh. Can't imagine what else they're doing to the poor boy while they have him sleeping in-"

"He didn't fight back."

Tonks turned around with a fist full of ice to see Remus still watching the hallway with unfocused eyes. Without a bit of prompting on her end, he kept talking, "I just realized, hadn't even crossed my mind before, but he didn't fight me when I was attacking him when we first got here."

"Well he was in Azkaban for how many years?" Tonks recalled as she wrapped up the ice and tried to place it on his nose. "I've heard that place sucks the life out of you, literally, so maybe he-"

Remus flinched away from the cold on his face, and focused back in on the sixteen year old menstruating him. His body caught up to where his mind had been stuck on, and before he even realized it he'd pushed past a protesting Tonks and snapped at her to stay here while he continued on into this place.

Past the kitchen was a hallway that seemed lined with doors, certainly enough sleeping space for all of them if they each housed a bedroom, and it wasn't hard to find the one Sirius had tried to slip into and Dumbledore had followed. The door was left wide open and Remus watched as the two at first looked like they were squaring off, but then he really saw.

Sirius had his back against the wall, his eyes vacant and sweat running down his face as he continued breathing heavily. Dumbledore was looking straight at his eyes with a look of intense concentration, and Remus had seen Legilimency in action enough times to recognize Dumbledore was prying a memory out of Sirius and watching the whole thing.

When finally the headmaster's eyes returned to a more normal focus, all he muttered was, "oh," as Sirius slumped to the floor in a dead like faint.

Even with every murderous, hateful thought he'd had towards him over the past ten years, Remus still had to fight the impulse not to rush to Sirius' side and instead stood in the doorway and watched his head bounced on the ground as he lost consciousness. Remus instead turned his attention to Dumbledore and asked, "oh?"

Dumbledore spoke every word slowly and carefully, "I am afraid Remus, that I have made a terrible mistake, and cost an innocent man everything."

Remus blinked several times, but nothing was changing. Dumbledore didn't crack a smile like he was making a joke, the room didn't suddenly twist on it's head leaving a terrible pit where he was standing, nothing had actually changed, but something inside Remus did as his mouth flopped open and he looked from Dumbledore to Sirius and back without stopping. "You, what?"

Dumbledore finally turned to look at Remus, who was terrified to see his blue eyes too bright. "Sirius was acting in a terrible state, muttering death threats against Harry's relatives and I feared for Harry's and everyone's safety in this place. I told Sirius that I would not allow him to continue saying these things while in front of the others and Sirius seemed likely to turn violent any moment as he told me that he'd finally at least be in prison for a murder he did commit. Something, I can not explain what, but something in me told me to use legilimency on him to understand why he would say such a thing, and Sirius was surprisingly unresistant to my attempts. Why this magic has worked and none others have, I can only speculate."

Remus hadn't realized his knees were shaking until he started sliding down the wall, still watching Dumbledore's face, unable to look away no matter how much he wanted to, because he just couldn't understand what Dumbledore told him next. "Remus, Sirius is not the one who killed all of those innocent people, including Lily and James. It was Peter Pettigrew."

It seemed to take Remus forever to hit the floor, where he sat in a frozen stupor as he watched the unconscious Sirius for what could have been years. The past ten years of his life flashed before his eyes, every foul thing he'd ever thought being contorted beyond recognition and misplaced, all because of...

"Remus," Dumbledore tried to keep his attention, tried to instill some action into him rather than shock. "You know what we must do, when we get out of here we can-"

"You told me it was him." Remus did not sound like himself, but a deep, guttural, primal voice as he did look at Dumbledore with the most hate he ever had at anyone in his life. "You convinced me, after I swore it couldn't have been, you told me it was him! That there was no other possible way!" He was back on his feet before he knew it, pulling out his wand on instinct and trying to throw a curse, but of course nothing happened.

Dumbledore stood there calmly, his face unbelievably passive even as Remus continued shouting every obscenity he'd ever heard. When he finally ran out of steam, he tightened his hands white knuckled at his side, trying to remind himself that it would be a bad idea to rip Dumbledore's head off, though he was quickly losing that fight.

"Get out." He stated flatly, gesturing with a trembling hand back at the door.

He advanced a step to emphasize his point, but then Dumbledore did indeed leave, which left Remus standing in the middle of the room, feeling empty. His eyes went back to Sirius, and for the first time really looked at him.

He'd seen him asleep more times than he could count, yet if he wasn't looking for the details he wasn't sure he could spot this stranger as Sirius. His hair had always been long, but well managed and groomed. Now it was nothing but a matted tangle falling well past his elbows that made a rats nest a kind comparison. The face was skeletal and without the rise and fall of his chest, you'd think it really was devoid of life.

Just for the sake of looking anywhere else for a moment, Remus' eyes flickered around the rest of the room and found it mostly bair except for a bed in the corner. He quickly made his way over and stole the pillow, before walking over to Sirius properly for the first time, gently raising his head, and placing the pillow underneath. Remus had only ever had legilimency performed on him once, and he knew it could be an excruciating experience on the mind. He had no idea what it must have felt like to Sirius, after being surrounded by dementors for so many years.

His thoughts were disjointed at best, trying to form something but always cutting back to Sirius was innocent. That Remus had been blaming him for over ten years for something that Peter had done. He didn't get too long to stew in his silence, as Sirius groaned to announce his awakening.

Remus stayed where he was near the bed, watching his eyes flutter being the only moment of life before they focused on the ceiling, then he sat upright and saw the look on Remus' face.

Everything that flashed across Sirius' happened too fast for it all to be taken in, hope, shock, integrated hatred, but finally he settled on a glare as he snarked, "come to strangle me some more? You just missed a perfect opportunity."

Remus couldn't think of anything to say. If he'd just gone to visit Sirius once over the years, he knew Sirius would have tried to tell him the truth, but Remus had been too much of a coward to face him. Remus couldn't blame this on anyone but himself for having to learn this secondhand. When he didn't say anything, Sirius hoisted himself to his feet and walked out of the room, and with no clue what else to do, Remus followed.

Sirius stopped in the kitchen, grabbed a rag of the counter and went into the freezer to try and find some ice.

"What are you doing?" Was the first thing he first really said to him.

"Getting some ice," he snapped back without looking up. "Not as good as a numbing charm, but-"

"I meant why-" Remus interrupted, trying to figure out if Sirius had hurt his forehead when he'd slammed it into Remus' nose or something.

Sirius turned back to look at him, held up his bruised hand that Remus had tried to crush under his boot, and stated, "it's swelling."

He gingerly placed the ice on his knuckles and walked past Remus toward the reading room without another word.

Remus decided he still had no choice but to follow.

Sirius was stalking back towards his corner space of the room by the time Remus had shuffled in behind him, but Dumbledore tried to gently say, "Sirius, you can sit-"

"I am not sitting somewhere I'm not wanted," he barked back.

Dumbledore sighed but didn't look like he was going to argue the point, but Sirius hadn't quite made it past the last chair when Harry blurted out, "but you're innocent, right?"

Sirius froze, and even with his back to them all they could see some of the tension start to edge out of his shoulders as he turned back around to face the boy with a questioning look, but agreed, "that's right."

"I told him," Dumbedore explained. "I told them the truth, as I will to the Ministry when we get out of here."

Sirius curled his lip up with pure cruelty as he snapped at him, "yeah, I'll believe that when I see it."

He still wavered for a few moments, his eyes on Harry which matched him with curiosity. All Dumbledore had said of him was that Sirius had wrongly been in prison for a crime, but when Hermione had asked for details Dumbledore had looked at Harry first before quickly saying it was something that they'd have to get into later. Dumbledore had then tried to ask Harry about his stay in the cupboard when Sirius had come back in, so Harry didn't really want the conversation to turn back to him when he'd spoken to the man who seemed so outraged on Harry's behalf. If he could keep him talking, maybe any more of the Dursleys' problems with him wouldn't come.

The staring between Harry and Sirius finally broke though, as what Harry saw as shame swallowed those dark gray eyes and he still went back to his corner of the room. Harry didn't understand why, what did he have to feel shameful for if he hadn't done anything?

Charlie still looked uneasy, but was finally able to reopen the book and start flipping through a few pages to find his spot.

Before he could keep going though, Remus did drag his attention away from Sirius long enough to ask, "Harry why did they have you sleeping in a cupboard," in a too tight voice that still promised violence, though at least no longer at anyone in the room.

Harry flattened his hair nervously, avoiding all eyes as he whispered, "that's, just where I slept. Don't know what to say."

Remus, nor anyone if Harry had been looking, looked particularly pleased with such an answer, but clearly they were frightening the boy. He looked ready to run out of the room next if anyone asked him another thing, so Charlie hoped that reading a bit would help him relax.

Arthur was so concerned with what he'd just heard about something happening to an innocent kid, it hardly registered that he wanted to ask for details about a computer. He'd have to get to that later.

Hermione flushed pink and gave Harry a pitying look. She hated bullies, had been a victim of them her whole school life, and couldn't imagine having to live with one.

"Merlin, he actually hit you!?" Tonks snapped as she eyed a faded bruise on Harry's jaw.

Harry just shrugged noncommittally.

"Too much practice," Charlie huffed.

Remus and Sirius had the same look flash across both of their faces, like someone had just smacked them upside the head as they thought back to the first time they'd seen James, how scrawny he'd been before he'd filled out; and he'd grown up in a loving home! Harry was somehow even smaller, and they didn't particularly enjoy knowing why.

All of their faces flushed in shock as they looked at Harry again and quickly away. Well that certainly explained the way he was dressed now, in close that would be too big on Charlie.

Ron wanted to tug on his father's sleeve again, ask why this book would be describing something like that when they could see Harry and he looked like that now, but when his father didn't respond to him he sat back and let it go, clearly he and the other adults were still upset about something.

Remus made a terrifying noise, already entirely sick of hearing about Harry being treated like this and frustrated beyond all reason he'd never bothered to go and check on Harry. Nobody had! Harry had been treated like a piece of garbage for the past ten years while Remus had been sitting around whining about his own life. That was going to change though. The moment he had his magic back, the first thing he'd do was see to all of these wrongs.

Ron sat up just a little straighter and tried to eye Harry again, trying to find the scar he'd heard so much about in the hairline again, but Harry didn't notice. He was running his fingers along the mark now, so Ron still didn't get a proper look.

"That lying sack of-" Sirius began, getting to his feet again at once in a temper.

"Sirius," Dumbledore cut him off before he could keep going, "there are children around. Mind your manners."

Sirius worked his jaw furiously for a few moments, like he wanted to say something to Dumbledore now that still wasn't age appropriate, but then his eyes flickered to Harry who was watching him with those dark green eyes of Lily's. Sirius could just imagine what Lily would be saying to him right now, telling him off for nearly cursing in front of her son, wanting to shush him so that Harry could hear more about what really happened instead of Sirius' mouth running. He still couldn't bring himself to sit back down on the floor, but Sirius had remained quite so long that Charlie kept going.

Hermione's mouth flopped open in shock as she couldn't imagine such a thing. The only reason she wasn't blurting out a million questions to those around her was the still ingrained fear of them all being strangers, but even that was starting to pass as they kept talking. Her parents had always encouraged her to ask any question that came to mind, that was how she learned. Poor Harry must have had such a quiet life.

Remus made a wet noise that confused the others, though they ignored it. Remus couldn't help it, he was trying to stifle a laugh about the many times he remembered James ruffling up his hair on purpose just to agitate those around him, could imagine him doing that and much more to a man forcing his son to live in a cupboard.

Harry had many years of training his expression not to scoff at that, but instead only mentally supplied what he really thought Dudley looked like.

Harry flushed in shock and tensed in unease, waiting for someone to start shouting at him for saying a word against Dudley, but instead what he heard was Ron and Hermione giggling and everyone else that was older actually smiling. Harry sat there and watched them all in utter confusion, he'd never seen this reaction before to anything he said or thought.

"Who remembers something like that?" Ron asked in shock. He'd recognized at a young age that he was happy to be getting the presents he did on his birthday instead of hand me downs like he usually required for other things.

"Ungrateful children," Arthur scoffed, thinking Dudley more than deserved a good smack for saying something like that.

"Bloody hell, she sounds like she's encouraging him," Tonks raised a disbelieving brow.

"From what I've heard so far, she's not going to deter him," Charlie scowled.

"Wow he's a little brat," Hermione yelped, knowing if she'd ever thrown a tantrum like that her parents wouldn't have stood for it.

Harry again just shrugged in response, finding Dudleys behaviour all too common to really see how bad it was.

"Isn't he your age," Ron spluttered in surprise, "and he can't count?"

Again, Harry shrugged for an answer, confused why all of these people were so confused about this. Harry did Dudleys homework for him, so he'd never had a need to learn.

Arthur huffed and shook his head in despair, blown away by these so-called parents. Treating Harry the way they were was already terrible enough, but they were certainly doing a number on that boy as well.

Arthur did have the state of mind this time though to make a mental note of all those things he wanted to ask about, now hoping that he could talk to Harry specifically about them later. He was hoping maybe he could get the boy talking about something that would be normal to him like all of these muggle things, maybe then he'd relax a bit and talk more.

Harry now sighed and avoided all questioning eyes. He'd been having his suspicious since he heard about all of Dudley's birthday presents again, but now it was confirmed, this was indeed Dudley's most recent birthday, so far the only one Mrs. Figg hadn't watched Harry for. Great, now everyone in this room was going to get to see how much of a freak he was on his first trip to the zoo. He didn't notice all of the curious looks of why anyone would have to take him at all.

No one noticed the way that Dumbledore was now holding himself, as casually listening as he was before, but now with just a touch more unease. Arabella had sent him numerous owls in the beginning when she'd started watching Harry, telling Dumbledore all of the things she both suspected and knew that the Dursleys were doing to Harry, but Dumbledore had never let her intervene nor had he done so himself on her request. Even if the Dursleys weren't treating Harry as Dumbledore had wished, he was still safer there. Arabella had followed his orders, as he knew she would, but Dumbledore very much hoped that the book wouldn't go into too much detail of her true reasoning for living there.

"And I thought Aunt Muriel was bad," Charlie shuddered at the idea of that horrid time happening to any kid.

Sirius felt his mouth do something, like a twitch that went along with something he was feeling but couldn't identify. His mind tried to offer up the word, laughter, like he should actually find something funny about planning to break someone's leg to get out of anything...but he couldn't hold onto it for any longer.

He had no idea that Remus was thinking the same thing, his mind flashing back to the same thing, of the time the Marauders had actually considered trying to break Filch's leg rather than let him catch them in the act again. Remus actually did smile, for what felt like the first time in years, at how reckless they'd been back then. Not that it had done them any good as the plan hadn't worked.

Everyone else just felt confused at Petunia, unless Harry was deeply hiding some sociopathic tendencies, he seemed like a quiet and well mannered kid. Why would that be her first thought?

All eyes quickly swiveled to Harry again in pity, but he clearly was trying not to look at any of them and instead kept that same neutral expression in place. At least this explained why the boy was so quiet if this was how he'd grown up being spoken about, but it was only managing to increase the fury of every one of them the longer this went on.

"They wouldn't!" Arthur snapped heatedly.

Of course they would, Harry mentally corrected, they did it all the time when they had no choice but to take Harry somewhere like the store but instead left him in the car anyways.

"Oh yes because the car was the important part of that statement," Remus snarled.

Sirius was still pacing furiously against the shadowed wall, muttering things under his breath that no one really wanted to know.

Remus and Sirius' agitation somehow managed to ramp up even higher than before to everyone's confusion, wondering why such a comparison would bother them so deeply, but since they both looked likely to kill at any moment not even Dumbledore would dare to ask what their problem was.

"I've never been to the zoo either," Ron told Harry when he noticed the boy was fidgeting and looking upset at this fact being declared, "but my parents were talking about taking my little sister sometime soon. Could Harry come along Dad," he quickly directed at his father.

"I don't see why not," Arthur agreed with a smile.

"I've been loads of times," Hermione jumped in as she finally found something she could try to talk to them about. "I love reading the plaque cards in front of all the exhibits, and the bears always have a toy they're playing with."

Ron was frowning at her in agitation, thinking she was only making things worse by rubbing it in that she'd been, but Harry looked intrigued and may have actually spoken back if Charlie hadn't decided right then that they'd paused long enough and kept going.

Now everyone was tensed and glancing fearfully at Harry, they really didn't like the way Harry's face gave a minute twitch as he remembered that.

Several mouths flopped open in shock at such a declaration, everyone wanting to ask but no one able to find it in themselves to demand if that was true. Even if Harry had answered, all he could have said was 'so far, yeah it's looking that way.'

"That's just your accidental magic kicking up," Tonks told him kindly, trying to get rid of that look now on Harry's face. "All young wizards go through it when they're scared or angry, high tense emotions."

Both Harry and Hermione looked at her in puzzled confusion, their minds flickering around to a few times this had happened to them, and unbelievably relieved when they realized that this could mean they weren't actual freaks if this had happened to others.

Remus felt his stomach trying to lurch out of his body as the first thought that came to his mind was that James would have had a heart attack at anyone doing that to his hair, let alone his outrage at someone forcing that on Harry.

Harry unconsciously tried to flatten his hair as he kept eyeing Tonks, waiting for her to say 'oh never mind, that's not normal after all,' but she instead just kept smiling like this didn't surprise her one bit. That must have been an incident of his accidental magic then, which really meant that he was a wizard as well!

"You what!" All of the adults spluttered in outrage while Harry flinched back at all the yelling and would have jumped behind the sofa to hide if he hadn't frozen in shock.

"Harry, how often did they lock you in there as punishment?" Remus demanded, though he realized in a still to harsh tone as Harry simply tried to sink further down into his seat without looking at anyone.

Remus' shoulders slumped in defeat and no one decided to press the boy further, he looked so terrified of all the comotion it would only make it worse if they kept badgering him.

Sirius did come to actually sit near the group then to stop his manic pacing and have a better opportunity to keep a better eye on Harry, but he instead perched on the arm of the sofa rather than taking the only seat left next to Remus.

"Never should have been to begin with," Arthur seethed to himself, holding Ron just a little closer to his side in agitation of picturing that happening to any kid.

"How much is terrible trouble?" Ron asked in surprise. He'd always thought a smack on the bum was bad, but what he was hearing really surprised him as it had never crossed his mind he'd be punished for such things.

Harry met his eyes briefly, considered for a moment, and then practically whispered back, "just had to do some extra chores really," and a day without food, Harry finished in his head though knew better than to say that aloud as the Dursleys had always promised a terrible reconing if Harry ever went into too much detail of his punishments at that house. Food and where he slept were most frequently warned against in particular when he first started school.

The adults watched Harry in surprise, Remus and Sirius in particular wishing Harry didn't look like a kicked puppy as he spoke, but no one pressed him for more.

"Nah, levitation isn't too uncommon," Charlie said briskly as he realized, like his brother, speaking normally to Harry seemed to get the best results out of him rather than demanding. "Our brothers were on top of the broom shed one time, and Fred accidentally pushed George off, normally would have broken his leg, but his accidental magic kicked in and he floated instead."

Arthut looked at Charlie sharply in surprise, the parents had never heard of this instance, but Harry looked both relieved and intrigued so Arthur didn't say anything.

If Ron hadn't already, Arthur would have certainly been hoping Ron would invite Harry over by now. That poor boy clearly needed an out of that place.

Tonks let out a throaty whistle in pity for all that complaining going around a kid, and as Harry watched her eyes flipped from purple to blue, then back again so fast he was sure he was imagining it.

Everyone jumped at Charlie having read that at the top of his lungs, Sirius startled so badly he fell into his seat proper and nearly landed on top of Remus. Sirius quickly darted back away onto his perch, but nobody noticed the twos interaction because they were all glaring at Charlie, who had a small smile on his face. It had felt good to shout for a moment, release some of the tension around Harry and put it on him for a moment.

Then Charlie really did feel bad for his moment of fun, because he'd just done what Harry's Uncle always did when Harry spoke up, and Charlie didn't want that. As his eyes flickered to the boy he decided right then he didn't want any more shouting to really go on, not if Harry was going to get like this.

"More like you'd share those dangerous ideas around Dudley," Tonks sniffed, as far as she could tell Harry's relatives didn't care one bit about Harry, but what he did around Dudley.

"Ooh, I like those," Hermione told Harry with a smile, trying to at least get him to give a small smile again.

After a few moments of hesitation, he did indeed grin at her, which made them feel a bit better.

All of the kids let out surprised snorts of laughter and appreciation at the comparison.

Harry's smile grew rather triumphant at the reminder, that hot and mostly melted ice cream that even Piers hadn't wanted because it had sat out in the sun while they'd eaten had been the best dessert Harry had in awhile. The look quickly faded away though when he remembered what was about to happen next. No one had found his other strange happenings bad though, so surely this one wouldn't be either.

"Now why did that feel ominous," Arthur muttered.

— Hermione was rather impressed that Vernon knew the correct way to get a snake's attention. Though they didn't have ears, they felt vibrations through their jaws, so if they wanted the beast to move Vernon was doing the smart thing.

Most likely, Hermione realized, the snake was just too used to the noise and gave it no attention unless its feeder opened a certain panel.

"That does sound pretty bad," Tonks nodded in sudden pity. She normally liked going to the zoo as well to see all the exotic creatures, but she'd never considered that.

"Oh no," Charlie snapped to everyone but Tonks' confusion.

She tried to fain innocence anyways, "what are you on about?"

"I know that look, you are not going to the zoo to break all of the animals out," Charlie told her with a straight face.

Tonks tried to keep up an innocent pretense as she said, "I have no idea what-"

"We had this argument last week about the dragon sanctuary," Charlie cut her off again, "and we're not having it a second time. These types of places are good for them."

Tonks puffed up her cheeks, her every visage saying quite clearly she did want to keep at her friend for this, but then Arthur cleared his throat and gave the two a look, so Charlie was more than happy to move on.

Any amusement that Charlie and Tonks had provided drained back out at the reminder of what a miserable life Harry really had. He was the one who really needed to be broken out of his environment.

Ron blinked in surprise, wondering what Harry standing there doing nothing had done to get the attention when nobody else had.

"Snakes can't wink," Hermione blurted aloud this time. "They have a scale above their eye to protect from irritation."

Harry just shrugged, it had looked like it blinked to him, but maybe it had been a trick of the light.

Now everyone was frowning in confusion, as this didn't feel like normal snake behaviour. Maybe it did tricks? Could you even teach a snake tricks? No one in here knew enough about them to be sure.

This time Harry really did consider sprinting from the room at all of the shocked faces now looking his way, his feet were about to hit the floor running when Ron blurted out, "your a parseltongue?"

Harry froze, dithering for a moment before shrugging and saying, "I don't know what that is."

"It means you can talk to snakes," Charlie told him. "If your talking to this snake, then that makes you a parselmouth."

"But, but James couldn't do that," Remus spluttered, "and that's a skill through bloodlines."

Harry still looked very uneasy, everyone kept looking at him now like they expected him to grow fangs and start attacking them, but then Dumbledore cleared his throat and calmed them all. "This is indeed an odd thing to occur, but I see no reason to pressure young Mr. Potter about it for now. Mr. Charles Weasley, if you would continue."

Charlie still looked flabbergasted, but headed his headmaster, no one noticing how Dumbledore was now watching Harry with a very peculiar look indeed.

"You were being rather calm about this," Hermione told Harry, she didn't find it any stranger than any of the other odd magical things she'd heard of lately. "Has this happened to you before?"

"No," Harry shrugged, "first time I've met a snake, but I liked talking to the spiders sometimes too, even though they didn't do anything back like this snake. It wasn't any more odd than anything else," he finished with an uneasy shrug, still feeling too hot around the face from all of the staring he was receiving. Clearly he'd been wrong, and this was odd even by these odd magical standards, which was making Harry feel very uneasy.

That distracted the adults from whatever coiling fear they had about Harry Potter having some ability so associated with the Dark Arts. He was still an innocent kid, who had just been punched for no reason, and that shouldn't be allowed!

"The vanishing glass," Tonks chuckled.

"Thank you for that astute observation," Charlie rolled his eyes at her.

"Can't honestly blame them," Arthur nodded fairly, he knew he'd be freaking out with a snake being on the loose and his kids around.

"Did it really get away?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"As far as I know," Harry shrugged. The two of them, and Dumbledore, were the only ones who hadn't flinched in surprise of actually hearing of a snake talking like that.

"Wherever it wanted to," Tonks smirked.

Without looking up this time, Charlie reached over and pinched her, to which she swatted him for.

"A memorable experience for them, they're welcome," Tonks shot off again, ignoring Charlie giving her the stank eye.

That made even Charlie and Tonks' good mood vanish faster than that glass, they didn't want to know more than anyone else what Dudley's parents would do when they realized it had been Harry's fault this happening. Charlie read out the next part in trepidation.

"Why?" Remus snapped so forcefully, Charlie flinched in shock and it hadn't even really been directed at him. Remus couldn't help it though, he didn't want to know what Vernon was going to do once a witness was gone.

Harry still said nothing, not looking up to reacting to anything any time soon. His throat was swelling so tight he didn't even look like he was breathing, and he really hoped the book would stop soon, he didn't want to relive what happened the rest of this night.

"No meals!?" Arthur yelped, looking like someone had punched him in the gut. "You must be joking, no one would starve a child!"

"Are you kidding me," Sirius snarled, looking very much like a deranged animal as his claw like hands twisted into fists. "Look at him, he's skin and bones! When's the last time he's eaten period!?"

Harry's lower lip was wobbling, he looked terrified someone was going to come at him any second. Dumbledore cut in when someone else looked to start shouting as well, "that is enough. We will discuss this-"

"You're damned right that's enough," Remus barked at him. "Bloody hell Dumbledore, how long's this been going on? You said he was safe there, and they're treating him like-"

"I said that is enough," Dumbledore told him with a much more stern tone.

Remus' mouth snapped shut on instinct, crumpling under Dumbledore so as not to correct him and disappoint him, but then his eyes went to Harry again. He looked diminished, broken. Remus hadn't even looked that bad at his age because despite his disease, at least his parents had still tried to love him and care for him. His temper flared right back up, fully prepared to take Dumbledore's head as he chewed him off, but then Arthur stepped in, in only a slightly more controlled voice. "Really you two, I'm angry as well, but yelling in front of him like this is hurting him." All Arthur had to do was gesture at Harry, and it really sank into Remus and Sirius that they were causing more harm than good right then.

"How much is there left Charlie," Arthur asked.

Charlie swiftly said, "less than half a page."

Arthur nodded and said, "let him finish, then we'll discuss this, calmly," he emphasized at the end.

Charlie still looked several shades pailer than he should have in shock for this happening to a kid, but heeded his father and tried to finish without shouting in anger.

Harry couldn't repress a shiver as he remembered the rest of that night, hoping the book would stop already. For some reason he still couldn't understand, these people around him seemed to yell the loudest whenever the Dursleys usual punishments came up, and he didn't want it to just get louder after the brandy had been in Vernons system.

Remus felt a choking noise trying to close off his throat, remembering back to all his years in school and James practically living down in the kitchens as much as he snuck down to them. The mockery of that situation on Harry now was sharper than anything Remus had ever felt.

Ron couldn't help the little niggle of intrigue he felt at hearing that, still wanting to ask Harry if he remembered anything else, like what You-Know-Who looked like, but now he realized Harry clearly didn't.

Sirius felt a crushing blow trying to drown him, as he knew exactly what Harry meant. Those dementors had left a permanent chill over his skin, even though he'd already been away from them for about an hour it still hadn't left, but that was nothing compared to the gaping chasm of his mind. Sirius had hardly been able to recall what his best friend had looked like until he'd seen Harry in the flesh when they appeared in this room. Had only remembered the exact shade of Lily's eyes when he'd looked at her son. Because of those dementors, Sirius now hardly had more of a clue about Harry's parents then Harry.

Remus flinched like someone had just slapped him, he wished someone had, because that would have felt better. He now regretted the past ten years of his life with a vengeance, as clearly he'd made the wrong decision in trusting Dumbledore when he'd said he was looking after Harry's well being.

"Thought you said no one knew where Harry was?" Sirius asked slowly to try and stop himself from strangling Dumbledore. "What was to stop a Death Eater attack Harry instead of those random people?"

"So long as Harry remained where he was, no one could physically harm him," Dumbledore said with the utmost assurance. Even now, as he heard first hand of how the Dursleys had been treating Harry, Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to think he'd made the wrong decision. He regretted it yes, as his mind flashed to Ariena and how she'd been treated because of how different she was. Still, he had to think longer than that, to keep himself assured that this was for the better of everyone. Harry was safe so long as he called Petunia Dursley's house home, so that was where he would stay. He would have to make them realize this. For now though, Dumbledore did not elaborate, and though Charlie wanted to crack his headmaster over the head with the book he was so mad at what he did not consider an answer, he finished.

"There," Charlie snapped as he closed the book and glared at Dumbledore.

Remus and Sirius puffed up at once like they were going to start digging into Dumbledore that second, but Arthur quickly intervened and said, "Ron, why don't you, Harry, and Hermione go have a poke around through that corridor, explore the place a bit?" His eyes lingered on his other son with a questioning look, but Charlies face remained impassive to show he wasn't going anywhere. Arthur wasn't going to argue with him, his son was of age now.

Harry looked more than relieved to hop to his feet and nearly sprint out of the room to avoid all the shouting he could feel was coming, it was rolling off of Remus and Sirius in waves, and Hermione was quick to follow as she felt bad for the poor boy who was getting so much unwanted attention. Ron hesitated, feeling left out and wanting to snap that he wasn't so young and he shouldn't just be kicked out, but then his father got a stern look across his face and Ron decided against arguing when his dad got that look on his face so he followed the other two out morose.

Didn't mean to make the interlude of where they found out Harry was sleeping a whole one-shot worth of notes on it's own, but I like where it fits and I'm not moving it around. Hope you liked it.

  
  



	4. THE LETTER'S FROM NO ONE

  
  


Neville was down at the lake, walking silently across the pebbled ground and occasionally skipping some of the smoother and larger rocks he found. He always made sure to stay within sight of his Gran, who was standing at the back door talking to his Great Uncle Algie. He knew they were talking about him, about his magic and how he'd finally performed some, though because he'd had to be shoved out a window for it to work they were trying to figure out if it was enough to get him into Hogwarts in a month when letters were due to arrive. Neville was just wondering what would happen to him when the day came and gone without his when-

...

Neville blinked the bright green spots out of his eyes, and realized that wherever he landed had been in the middle of an argument.

There were many people standing around in a circle, a few of them talking at once, none that Neville recognized but a few he could guess at from reputations.

That man must be Albus Dumbledore, and he seemed to be one of the points of the argument as he held himself stiffly and used a tight voice, "I'm afraid that point is not negotiable. We can not interfere-"

Two of them must be Weasley's, judging from the distinguishable bright red hair, and though he didn't know his name the oldest one shot back, "be reasonable Dumbledore, how can you condone this?"

"I don't give a damn what he condones!" One man began shouting, and perhaps Neville's terrified squeak of shock in recognizing a prisoner of Azkaban is what drew most attention, though not his as he continued, "you said you were going to get me out of there Dumbledore, and when that happens you really think I'm going to let Harry stay there! You've got another thing coming if-"

"Sirius," the other unfamiliar adult tried to cut in, his eyes now watching Neville curiously, but the convict brushed him off with a snarled, "are you really going to switch sides on me now, because-"

"And who are you?" A girl cut in and derailed him to finally make them all realize Neville's presence. This girl would have given his Gran heart failure, with her brightly colored, unnatural hair and punk like clothing, but her smile was friendly enough.

Neville hesitated for a long time before sputtering out, "N-Neville. Ah, Longbottom," he added on as an afterthought, normally that wasn't needed as his Gran usually made that point obvious.

All of the adults exchanged genuinely confused expressions, no one seemed to know why Neville was here any more than him, but then the other Weasley spoke up kindly and said, "alright Neville, how about you go through that door. There are some others your age back there, and they'll explain what all's going on best they can."

At first he didn't know how to react, as he had no clue what was going on and had never had the inclination to take orders from a stranger, but then Neville looked at Dumbledore. He may have never met him, but his Gran had always said that Dumbledore knew best, to trust him. He'd seen his Chocolate Frog card, and he'd been addressed as such, so this must be that man. He was giving Neville a kindhearted smile and nodding his agreement, so Neville decided if he should trust this, Dumbledore would agree, so he went into the back as asked.

"Is this going to be a common occurrence," Tonks muttered when he was gone, "how many more people should we be expecting just to pop in here?"

Charlie didn't have an answer for her, and more pressing matters to get to. Only glancing for a second at his dad, Charlie spoke up mostly to everyone except his headmaster, "look, this argument is getting us nowhere. If Dumbledore won't tell us his real reasoning for Harry being there to us, then I say he'll have to do it in front of the Ministry later. I know my Dad's not going to ignore this when we get out of here."

He didn't pause even as he knew his father was nodding in absolute agreement. "So for now, let's get the kids back in here and just keep going, we can't do anything until we can leave anyways." No one argued with him, though Black's face showed he still wanted to, but Charlie left anyway.

Remus leaned over and tried to whisper to Sirius, "hey, you know I wasn't going against you for a second right? Harry shouldn't be there, I was just trying to get your attention."

Sirius' face didn't even twitch at Remus talking to him, staring determinedly at the wall and pretending he hadn't heard a word. Remus wished for a time where he could have laughed at Sirius giving him the silent treatment, an almost common occurrence back in their younger years when Remus had said something to particularly agitate Sirius that day, but this wasn't funny. Remus knew he deserved it, it was going to take much more than just agreeing with Sirius to get him to any resemblance of peace between the two, Remus just didn't know how to even start.

He didn't get a chance to figure it out for now as the kids came back in. Harry looked much calmer as he came back side by side with Ron, the two chuckling about something. Hermione was chatting happily with Neville, his face slack with shock as even as Remus listened in Hermione was giving Neville a lot of details about the runtime of what had happened. Neville's eyes kept flickering to Harry and quickly away like he didn't know how to react around the boy yet. They were all feeling that way.

Charlie came in last, he'd still had the book in his hand this whole time, so while they all sat down to retake their seats, Charlie leaned over and offered it to Harry, asking, "since this is all about you, would you like a turn?"

Harry did not look the least bit interested in taking the book, but as far as Remus could guess that had more to do with him realizing all attention would be on him when he did. Still, he didn't refuse either, and Remus couldn't help but wonder if that was more Dursley treatment. Had there been a time where Harry had tried to say no, he didn't want to, and had been punished for it by being locked in his cupboard, or worse? Those Dursleys had made a child sleep in such a pitiful condition, Remus was terrified of what else they may have done to him.

Whatever the reason, Harry did take the book and found his chapter to begin.

"How can letters be from no one," Hermione frowned. "Someone must have written it for it to be sent."

"Don't know," Neville shrugged, "maybe it's more accidental magic."

The older ones had a fairly good idea this may actually be more along the lines of Harry's Hogwarts letter, he was about that age in the right time, but chose not to say anything.

"How long was that?" Several people asked, though Harry didn't have the urge to pick out which voices in particular as he kept staring down at the page. Honestly, Harry didn't even have an answer, as he'd still been locked in his cupboard while it was going over two weeks ago now.

Suddenly he was thankful that he did have the book in his hands now, because he more than happily pretended he hadn't heard the interruption and kept going.

Harry's mind filled in the time gap in surprise, but was distracted from realizing he'd have another week and a half in his cupboard to go when he got back when Hermione kindly asked, "Harry, when's Dudley's birthday?"

He knew she was looking for the answer he'd just understood, and though he didn't want to answer as he feared it would only incite more yelling, he knew how it felt to be ignored and didn't want to do that to her. "23rd, of June," he muttered quickly, then kept reading on so that she couldn't have time to properly do the math.

"Do they really have nothing better to do than chase you around?" Neville scoffed. Even with all Hermione had told him of Harry's life there, Neville was having a hard time believing it.

"Doesn't seem like it," Harry grumbled.

Arthur really wanted to agree with a point Black had made earlier, about how safe Harry really was there according to Dumbledore if he was out on his own so much. Admittedly it would take some work to find out the exact town, no one had ever heard anything but rumors on the matter, but Dumbledore hadn't been forthcoming with any answer. All he'd said was that this was for the best and they had to believe him, but Arthur couldn't shake the fact that however magically protected Dumbledore seemed to feel Harry was, a boy who preferred to wander the streets rather than be in his home was in no way safe.

"Aren't you turning eleven though?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Err, yes," Harry admitted in confusion of what he saw as an odd question.

"Then you'll be going to Hogwarts," Ron chuckled, "not some Muggle school."

"What's that?" Hermione blurted.

"It's a school of magic," Ron kept explaining, looking between the two like they were crazy. "Everyone who's a witch or wizard starts to go there if they've turned eleven."

"How could we get in if we don't know magic though?" Hermione kept asking to Harry's relief, as he wanted to know the same but wasn't too sure of himself yet to keep asking questions even of this friendly boy his age. No one noticed Neville flinch with shame that as a pureblood he was in the same boat as the Muggleborns. Maybe his family was right and he was a Squib who'd just had a freak accident.

Ron looked stumped for a moment as he looked at first his dad, then his brother, but when both remained silent and seemed to decide Ron was doing fine explaining he kept going, "well, I don't actually know any yet either. That's why you go there, to learn some."

Harry had never in his life felt his spirits rise so much with hope. This place sounded even better than just being a school away from Dudley, it sounded like a whole new world he was only getting glimpses of by listening to those around him talk, but Harry tried to beat that hope back down quick enough. Ron was surely mistaken, no one in that school would let Harry in.

"What's so funny about it?" Tonks scoffed, wondering why she bothered asking anything of such a moronic child.

"I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that it's not the uppity school Dudley will be going to," Charlie grumbled.

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes at Dudley, knowing his cousin couldn't catch him and pin him down long enough to pull a stunt like that, but still all the more confused why everyone around him actually looked like they cared.

Ron and Neville weren't the only ones who burst out laughing triumphantly at such a response, but Harry was all the more surprised to see the elders as well. Harry still kept waiting for the moment where he'd be told off for saying such things to Dudely, but instead felt even more confused when Remus seemed to praise, "been a long time since I've heard cheek like that."

Harry had nothing to say to that, so kept going.

"Getting the feeling he never will," Hermione rolled her eyes, finding this boy more dense than a wall.

"Was that all it took," Tonks snickered, "kind of wish that had happened before now then."

"You just wished someone would break their leg," Charlie scolded. "Considering all the times you've fallen down a flight of stairs and had your own limbs hurt because of it, I'd think you'd know better."

"Quit being such a killjoy Charlie," Tonks grumbled back.

The fact that Harry looked genuinely surprised at these small kindnesses really was the sad part.

"Ergh, be thankful the Hogwarts uniforms are simple and black," Tonks wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I'm positive you'd find a way to make orange and maroon match your style," Charlie rolled his eyes at her.

"Now where does it say that in the brochure?" Arthur frowned.

"I'm sure it's Dudley's take on them," Remus reminded.

Harry really was having a hard time suppressing the laughter as he read out such a vivid description, but then he noticed that Ron, Charlie, and Tonks weren't even trying to do that, so Harry joined in after a few moments. It was the first real laughter they'd heard from him, even if it was subdued, but they were all determined they wanted him to laugh some more, he clearly needed it.

Remus heard Sirius mutter a few things beside him about how he planned on just removing those lips soon, and Remus decided not to call attention to this incase someone tried to stop Sirius.

Ron didn't even try to hide his violent snort of laughter at such a cheeky response. He never would have gotten away with saying something like that to his mother, but then again, his mother didn't deserve something like that being said to her.

Remus couldn't help but flicker his eyes to Sirius, wondering if now that some of the ice had been cracked Sirius would at least pretend to be his normal self and start that running gag, but to Remus' surprise Sirius' face didn't even flinch. It was rather disturbing that Sirius' favorite joke hadn't even registered to him.

"Well you'd certainly stand out," Neville muttered.

"Are you sure you read that right?" Tonks challenged Harry. "I can't imagine that lard actually telling his son to get anything."

Harry just shrugged without response. The Dursleys ignored him in equal amounts of them bossing him around. This time had just been the first.

"There you go Tonks," Charlie muttered bitterly.

"He actually told him to hit you!" Remus yelped in outrage.

Again Harry said nothing, as this wasn't uncommon when Dudley was closer than Uncle Vernon and Harry had talked back.

Harry felt his face twitch in displeasure at the mere mention of her, which sadly everyone noticed as he was the one to read. Thankfully no one asked though, all of them seeming to decide that it wasn't worth it right now.

Harry couldn't help finishing that sentence with incredulity. Who on earth would be writing to him!?

"That sounds dead depressing," Ron frowned in sympathy. He didn't get mail often either, but sometimes even he got a random card from one of his brothers or other extended family. Never to have gotten anything, that must be odd for him

Hermione couldn't help but laugh very slightly. It wasn't really funny, she felt terrible for the boy as this was yet another level of neglect he'd been living with his whole life, but since she in particular often lived that last one she couldn't help the giggle.

"Hey, it's your Hogwarts letter!" Ron yelped with joy.

"I, I really get one," Harry breathed as he stared down at the pages, still not quite able to believe it even surrounded by such clearly magical people.

"We never had doubts you would," Dumbledore chuckled.

"Did the cupboard part not raise any bells?" Neville asked in surprise.

"Sadly not," Dumbledore's good mood vanished as everyone turned sharp eyes on him for this answer, "the letters are written magically, and all that is checked is whether the individual is Muggleborn or not. Harry is in a rather unique situation, seeing as he was brought up by Muggles but one of which would know about the magical world. We would have no reason to even visit the premises and investigate whether Petunia would help Harry through this."

Of course Dumbledore realized how wrong he was now, so he looked properly remorseful as he was given several hateful looks for never having checked in on the boy. The adults were all very uneasy about this, worried what the Dursleys would do now that Harry's magic would be shoved in their faces by the school. September first wasn't going to get here fast enough for them.

"What's a stamp?" Ron asked in surprise.

Arthur was more than happy that he did know about those little things as he explained, "they're extra bits of paper Muggles put on their mail, it seems that their system won't work without it."

"How come?" Ron asked in surprise, wondering if this was some form of magic Muggles didn't realize they were using.

"I'm sure it can be explained later," Remus butted in, unable to ease the tense set of his shoulders as he was still anticipating a bad reaction from Vernon.

"The Hogwarts crest," Neville said with a groan of longing. It was good to hear what it would look like at least, since Neville was still in doubt he'd even be getting his own.

Hermione flushed with anger as she snapped, "that isn't funny, nor something that should be made fun of!"

"I could have told you this man doesn't have a good sense of humor," Tonks sniffed.

Sirius couldn't help a little noise of worry, really wishing Harry had stuffed that thing out of sight. He was dreading the screeching fit Petunia was likely to have when she laid eyes on that.

"Why would he go shouting it like that," Charlie rolled his eyes, "is it so odd for you to have something?"

"Yes," Harry said honestly, not having realized Charlie meant it rhetorically.

"Gah, those slimy little, well no none of them are really little," Tonks began, wanting to threaten, but then cut herself off in mumbles and Harry decided to read while he still had the chance.

"I can not stand the way they talk to you," Remus groaned out to Harry's wide eyed surprise.

That's how everyone had talked to him before he'd come here, what was the big deal? Even the teachers at school hadn't exactly been kind to him, as they'd always believed Dudley and his Aunt and Uncle that everything that went wrong at school was his fault as well.

While Sirius agreed with Remus, the words honestly failed him to say it outloud, as he was still trying to cling to the resentment that he'd been left in bloody hell for the past ten years. Remus was only in the same room with him now because of some cosmic magic, and to do anything like agree with him now wasn't sitting with him well. This was about Harry though, so he knew he'd cave and say something eventually.

"Well he clearly knows what that is," Arthur raised a brow in surprise.

"Petunia probably told him, encase they had to keep an eye out for it," Tonks scoffed.

"Welcome to Harry's world," Hermione grumbled.

"What a violent thing," Neville frowned, astounded he could even get away with hitting his own parents.

All eyes turned very surprised to a blushing Harry, who tried to mutter an inarticulate apology.

Ron started laughing, telling him, "don't know what you're sorry for, I'd get a temper too if someone took my stuff as often as they seem to do for you."

Some of the red started dulling back out of Harry's face as he realized he once again wasn't in trouble for this, missing this time the concern on Remus' face, who didn't like to think what Vernon was going to do when Harry fought back.

"Oh my," Hermione gasped as they finally had proof that Vernon really did put his hands on Harry, and now his own loving son. Harry was still trying to read right past the moment though, trying to pretend he didn't notice all of the staring for something so common to him. He was often physically removed out of the room if he'd overstayed his welcome.

"Hope he doesn't try to eat you in the process," Ron grumbled, "he is missing his breakfast."

"Congratulations for ingenuity though," Charlie beamed.

"Oh how I wish we did," Dumbledore sighed remorsefully. Though honestly he wasn't even sure what he would have done if he did know. Harry was still better off there, much safer even if he wasn't living in the best area.

"Someone should have been," Arthur huffed.

"They will be now," Remus spat.

That made Harry's blood run cold. He'd been absolutely thrilled upon realizing he'd been accepted into this school of magic, so much so that he'd been trying to read through the Dursleys reaction to it in hopes he somehow got the letter back and heard more about it. Now though, could the Dursleys stop him from going?!

"That will not be an issue," Dumbledore spoke calmly to a bunch of clearly panicky people. "While Hogwarts is not mandatory for our kind, given who Harry is I can assure you that should any such attempts to stop him coming will be looked into by me personally."

That truly did relax the others, even Harry. He couldn't explain why, but something about Dumbledore really did just lead him to trust what he was saying.

Dumbledore couldn't stop a sudden release of chuckles under his breath, which gained him all present attention. Dumbledore however merely gave a benign smile and began tapping his thumbs together.

Harry wasn't going to ask, and didn't give anyone else the chance to.

Any good mood of his though dropped right out of Dumbledore, as he was suddenly stiff as a board, his blue eyes suddenly ghostly with remembrance. He was all too well aware of what could happen to a wizard if their magic was stamped out, even the attempts of doing so could cause irreparable damage to the boy. It didn't seem that Harry had ever been hurt as bad as Ariana, his cases of accidental magic proved that he was still capable of it, but what Vernon was now implying that they'd at least tried to do was so bad Dumbledore was regretting every day of the past ten years that he'd left Harry there. Suddenly his conviction that Harry was safest there didn't seem as rock solid as before.

"Nice to know that's not a frequent visit," Ron sniffed in disdain, "you get enough shit around that place."

"Ronald," his dad quickly corrected, "watch your mouth."

Ron quickly nodded, looking plenty ashamed while his dad was watching, but the moment his dad looked away Ron caught Harry's eye and they shared a smile.

"Even Dudley wouldn't be so stupid to believe that," Charlie scoffed.

"And that's saying something," Tonks smirked.

"Harsh," Hermione winced, thinking that was pretty midevil of him.

Harry hardly noticed as he felt crushing disappointment trying to overwhelm him. Great, now he didn't even have a chance to nick it back and see the letter, now he was never going to get away. Harry didn't want to look up and around to see if anyone else had anything to say, he just wanted to get his chapter over with.

Ron retched and leaned a little closer to his dad on instinct at the very thought, his eyes quickly flickering to the ceiling and away just to make sure that wasn't happening here.

"Oh I'm sure it was," Charlie grumbled.

"I don't even want to imagine how big it is," Remus hissed, "but I can say that's about ten years too late you-" he cut himself off quickly before he could follow with a string of curses.

Harry startled so badly the book fell to the floor at the uproar of them realizing this fact. He didn't understand what their big deal was.

Their big deal was, it felt like they were hearing the stupid news about the cupboard all over again. It didn't matter if the Dursleys only had a two bedroom house, Harry should have been bunking in Dudley's room before he was shoved out of sight down there, but now they realized Dudley had an extra bedroom on top of everything else that had been going on! The injustice of it felt like it would never end!

Those that were Harry's age were the only ones not cursing to high heaven, Ron in particular wanted to laugh that his dad had just told him off for saying a bad word when he was saying much worse now, but they were the reason the adults managed to cool it. There was no door leading out of this place, they couldn't apparate or get out by any other means, so they could scream all they wanted, but it was clearly scaring the bejeezus out of the children, three of which didn't even have parents present but instead were watching virtual strangers act like this. It could temper out a mood pretty fast.

Harry waited a few extra moments in the suddenly sticky silence, but when he was convinced it wasn't just a lull but they were trying to let Harry go on, he did just that.

"Why are you questioning it!" Neville asked in shock.

"That'll be the first time he's ever tried to be nice to me," Harry shrugged, "I'm still wanting to ask him why."

"Is that their response to everything you say?" Hermione snapped.

There was less volume but even sharper mutterings about that number, somehow the situation just kept getting twice as bad the longer they heard. In honesty though, Harry had never really felt the need to complain about his cupboard much. He had everything he needed, and owned, down there.

The sharp voice Harry continued to use when he spoke about her was not encouraging anyone to this other Dursley, but they were all in such a foul mood still no one wanted to ask for fear they'd start yelling at Harry again.

"I don't get it," Ron scowled, "why does he have a second room for his stuff!" He genuinely was struggling to understand why these people were doing this to Harry.

Arthur had no answer for him. It wasn't easy to explain to one of your kids that these were just horrible, terrible people Harry was living with. Instead he pulled Ron just a little tighter to his side and whispered, "there are Muggles who are just plain terrible, there's no telling why they're that way. All I know is, this isn't going to last long." Arthur had long since decided that when they got out of this place, if nothing else was going to be done for it, Harry was going to come live with them. Even sharing a room with Ron would be lengths better than that atrocious place.

"Wouldn't be surprised if he can't even read," Tonks snarled.

"I think they should swap places for a time," Charlie snapped. "Make Dudley sleep in that cupboard, if he could even fit."

"I'll add it to my ever growing list of unpleasantries they should be looking forward to," Tonks agreed.

Remus and Sirius felt a bone deep shiver. They were only getting a glimpse of his life there, and it was torturous to hear. What child would rather live like that with just a single possession! It was such a chilling moment that the others all noticed their behaviour, and for the first time the two seemed to realize they'd had the same actions at the same time. Neither even glanced at the other though, refused to so much as meet eyes.

Arthur's mouth was hanging open in shock at the end of this display. It hadn't taken long to realize what a terrible child Dudley was, but even that didn't prepare him for those acts, and he didn't even need to ask if Dudley had been punished for them.

"Well now you've learned your lesson, and you most likely will the second time," Hermione offered hopefully, then her face blanched as her eyes flickered to Dumbledore. What if there wasn't a second letter coming?

Dumbledore did not seem overly concerned at the idea, when Hermione had spoken he'd just continued lightly smiling like he was waiting patiently for a punchline.

Harry couldn't even fathom that idea. It had never happened yet.

"How did I get another one so soon?" Harry yelped in shock. It was the first real question he was actually looking for an answer for, and Harry really wanted this answer. This magical school that kept being mentioned was his ticket out of there!

Dumbledore happily explained for Harry, "Magic dear boy. Our letters are well aware when they don't reach the person they were meant for, and so they will keep arriving until you do."

Hope bubbled up in Harry with such high velocity, he wasn't even aware that's what it was, it was too unfamiliar. What he did know was that Harry kept going now with honest eagerness, surprising but intriguing the lot of them who'd yet to see him looking so honestly happy at the idea.

The Weasley boys and Tonks couldn't help but crack up laughing at the idea, but they were the only ones. Everyone else was too worried what Vernon would do to Harry when he turned back around.

Some of the disappointment still returned to Harry as he wondered how long this could last before he finally got to read this thing of pure magic, and it only got worse when he reminded himself that this Dumbledore could be wrong. What if the magic stopped working for him?

"Oh boy," Remus muttered before he could stop himself.

When he got some confused stares, he just shrugged and muttered, "got a few flashbacks is all, carry on." He did not feel like elaborating on all the insane plans the Marauders had gotten up to in their youth, not only because he wasn't sure how Sirius would react to him trying to reminisces, but because he was far more eager to hear Harry getting out of there then telling old tales for now.

Sirius really did look at him for the first time, though he was frowning in confusion. He felt like he should have an idea of what Remus was thinking, something lingered in his mind at the word plan, but he couldn't grasp it and then Harry was still going.

"That's actually brilliant," Hermione smiled.

"Very subtle," Charlie agreed.

Harry sat there in shock for a few moments, he'd never been complimented before, but it quickly wore off so that he could keep going.

"Gah," Neville gasped, clutching at his chest in shock.

"Do you have a pet there?" Hermione asked with worry.

"No," Harry shook his head with a frown as he did wonder what this could be, "Aunt Petunia hates animals, would never let anything in that couldn't be housed in a cage."

Remus and Sirius felt something vile snatching at their tongues, like they really wanted to snap at something for Harry referring to those people as his aunt and uncle, but the only one available was Harry and they weren't going to do that.

Ron made a squeaking noise like someone had stepped on him, and his father didn't look much better as he tried to comfort him, no one did. They were all too worried to hear what Vernon would do to Harry because of this.

"Damn," Charlie cursed, "he's actually got some brains in that fat head."

With another way to get his letters being snatched up, Harry really was beginning to worry that this Hogwarts place was never going to happen, that he'd be trapped at the Dursley's forever. It was starting to seep into his tone as well, and the others were getting as worried as Harry by this point. The boy needed to read his letter soon, but then a new problem arose the longer they thought about this. When Harry did read his letter, he'd finally realize that he was a wizard, but then what? They were banking on someone from Hogwarts showing up to escort Harry to Diagon Alley, because if that didn't happen Harry really was going to have some issues. They were all getting so worried by this point, none of them would have sounded better than Harry as he continued.

Sirius had to bite his tongue until he felt blood to stop himself demanding if that's all that had really happened, shouting. He wasn't going to demand something like that of Harry though, if they kept throwing questions like that at him he'd likely try to find a cupboard in here to hide in. They'd just have to be a bit patient and wait for them to gain his trust before asking. Problem was, patience was not his strong suit.

"Why?" Ron asked, looking expectantly at Hermione to explain this odd Muggles actions.

She however had no idea, shrugging and saying, "don't look at me, that's not how our mail works at all."

"No, we won't," Dumbledore said simply. "If time goes on that you never do receive your letter, then someone will be there to hand deliver it. This is not a common occurrence, but I have no doubts it will happen."

Harry watched him for a few minutes in surprise, hope and fear warring inside him as he wanted to believe but didn't want yet another disappointment. Finally he decided to keep going for an answer.

"She knows it won't," Remus huffed bitterly, thinking about Lily and how Petunia would have at least a basic idea of their mailing system from all the letters Lily would have received over her summer.

"Well that's the truth," Arthur sniffed. He'd never believe he could meet Muggles that he absolutely hated, but these ones had done it.

"Err," Neville blinked in shock, looking around at the others for some kind of explanation.

Harry and Hermione had no answer though, both shrugging and admitting they had no idea.

Harry couldn't help it, under the surprise of hearing all this happening, he was almost laughing as he read all of the ways the letter writer was trying to get to him. It was by far the most interesting thing to ever happen at the Dursleys at least.

"He is actually losing whatever he had left of his mind," Tonks frowned in worry, most of them still afraid he'd be taking this out on Harry. It didn't seem he was, there had been no more ominous notes about it from the book, but perhaps that was just more fear from Vernon knowing better than to try when he thought someone was watching.

"Won't do him any good," Charlie snickered.

Even when Harry knew the answer to that, he was still rather stunned by it.

"Well this can't be good," Remus grumbled, shifting his weight with unease and unconsciously moving closer to Sirius, though neither of them noticed. Whatever made that man happy wasn't good for them.

"How come?" Ron asked his dad, who actually didn't notice the question about the Muggle post because he was too distracted by what he was doing to his newspaper.

Harry tried to give him a simple enough answer, as by this point he realized if he let Hermione she'd probably have a whole book's worth of things she'd try to tell Ron dating back to when Muggles had started using mail, before he continued.

Ron started laughing at all of that excess, he was honestly thinking about asking his parents not to give him his letter now just so he could see so many letters come flying down the chimney like that, it sounded like a sight.

"Why would you try to catch one," Hermione giggled, "surely they were landing on the floor."

"You don't want to be within arms reach of my Uncle Vernon," Harry shrugged like this was the most common thing in the world to say. "This," he did indicate the book, "just said it was being aimed at Uncle Vernon, I was probably trying to snatch those that were bouncing off of him."

Hermione was watching Harry steadily, she like everyone else was still lingering at the first part of Harry's statement and wanting to ask why Harry would say such a thing, but Harry didn't notice, he was too eager to hear about reading his letter.

Then the others all shivered or said something foul again, wishing with everything they had their wands and magic would work already so they could rip Vernon's arms from his shoulders so that he couldn't ever do that again.

Harry's brows shot up in surprise. Uncle Vernon was very vain about his mustache, he must really be upset to go doing something like that.

"Where's he taking you?" Tonks asked with worry, wondering if they had a second house or something.

"It won't be far enough," Dumbledore chuckled, "wherever they go, Harry will still receive his letter."

Harry actually felt, reassured, something he was not used to feeling one little bit, but kept going anyways to see this for himself.

Everyone except Harry tensed up a little bit at that, none of them liking to think one bit that Vernon had just hit his precious son that he so clearly loved, what would he be doing to a boy he so clearly loathed.

"I am in genuine fear for his insanity right now," Charlie shivered.

"It's at least a little encouraging," Tonks tried, "if anyone tries to argue when we get Harry out of there, we can just put Vernon up for a psych test, he'll obviously fail."

Harry frowned at them in puzzlement for a few moments, wondering what on earth they could mean about getting him out of anywhere, but didn't ask.

Harry couldn't help reading that while simultaneously rolling his eyes. He couldn't garner much sympathy for his cousin when that was a typical day for him.

"Hey," Ron asked, "what were you wondering?"

"Where the letter writer is I'm sure," Harry answered.

Hermione made a noise of surprise, mentally picturing a map in her head and realizing that was a good four hour drive without all the stops and odd turnarounds Vernon had done. All without bathroom breaks or food. It genuinely sounded like Vernon was on the run, and her worry for Harry went up.

Harry on the other hand couldn't deny the journey, while not sounding particularly fun, would at least be an experience for him. He'd certainly never been so far away before, and he'd be getting to look out the window the whole time and seeing the world as it flashed by. He'd be distracted by the letter writer of course, but it would be the closest thing to an adventure he'd ever get to experience.

"What's he looking for?" Tonks demanded of no one.

"Whatever it is," Dumbledore answered, "I am sure it has something to do with evading us, and I've no doubts he can not find it."

"Gone implies he wasn't already there," Charlie sniffed.

"Oh boy, this can't be good," Arthur groaned. He'd seen enough evidence by now to know that the Dursleys didn't likely treat Harry any better on this day.

Sirius felt a plummeting trying to swallow up his stomach at the thought. He had of course retained the depressing memory of the fact that he'd missed Harry's first birthday, even though he'd sent his present he'd sadly been on Order business at the actual time, and now Sirius realized that he'd successfully missed every holiday his godson had ever had. He was not looking forward to hearing how the Dursleys treated him on this day.

It was as bad as they were all thinking, and yet still somehow felt like a new and terrible blow to hear a child being treated like that.

"Well you are for a year," Tonks quickly corrected with a smirk to try and at least slightly get rid of the downed mood.

"Because that's encouraging," Hermione shivered.

"And that was even less so," Ron agreed.

"What on earth is he playing at? What makes him think that's better than any other place?" Charlie shook his head without expecting an answer.

"There's an old tale that says wizard's can't cross running water," Hermione offered, "perhaps he's basing it off that."

"Well he's wrong," Ron snickered, "of course we can."

Harry was shivering at the thought, this sounded like a pretty miserable time where he was going to be spending his birthday.

Ron's mouth was hanging open in shock, unable to understand how something like that could be called a meal. How long did this Vernon plan on having them stay there!

"I say we just light you on fire," Tonks snarled, "the blubber will last us for days."

Charlie tried his best not to laugh, that threat had been hitting creepy levels, but he was failing as he couldn't disagree.

"Actually Harry, as your birthday falls on July 31st, the day before the deadline of when we need our acceptance, I have no doubts that time will have passed enough that I'll have sent someone to go fetch you by now. Someone will be there by morning with your letter." Dumbledore politely informed him.

"Really?" Harry gasped, true hope rearing its head again.

Dumbledore nodded his agreement, and Harry eagerly kept going to get to that, not even thinking to question why they knew his birthday, the oddity it was apparently some recognized date to wizards still an oddity in itself.

Sirius was practically vibrating with fury as he heard that. He'd have broken out of Azkaban the second he heard about his little pup being treated like this! Whoever Dumbledore was sending wasn't getting there fast enough!

Remus checked his watch and eyed Harry with worry. They'd appeared here rather late, and there were some lingering questions of how often Harry really was fed at that place, clearly not frequently enough. No one was going to be happy to hear it, but he may have to call for a break after this chapter just to make sure the boy had some proper food.

Harry couldn't stop a slight scoff at his own thoughts. He felt lucky he even knew when his birthday was as little as it was acknowledged.

Arriving very soon, everyone hoped.

Neville shivered at the very thought, unable to imagine being so low and cold in life the thought of the roof caving in was actually somehow a good thing.

"There's a chipper thought," Tonks smirked.

Dumbledore couldn't help but be interested in Harry picking up these odd details, wondering if it really was the elements, or perhaps his arrival had come earlier than he'd been expecting.

"I wouldn't bother," Ron huffed, "annoying him isn't worth having to spend the extra time in his company."

"And a happy birthday to you," Hermione squeaked, watching Harry wide eyed as she wondered what was going on.

Harry looked up to see matching faces of shock as he declared, "chapters over."


	5. Break Time

BREAK TIME

Neville, who had taken the seat next to Harry, looked surprised when Harry offered him the book.

"Did you want to read," Harry asked when Neville continued hesitating. "I guess you don't have to, but everyones probably going to at some point."

Neville couldn't help but be a little flustered at being spoken to so directly by the Boy Who Lived, but finally did manage to say, "err, yes alright."

Before he could get started though, Remus kindly interrupted, "actually, how about we stop for the night, it's getting rather late."

Harry was disappointed, at once wondering what he'd done wrong to cause such a reaction. Should he not have given the book up, but read the entire thing by himself? He'd be willing to of course, even with the assurances he was going to get to read the letter, he'd still like to see it in action!

Arthur quickly agreed with a sideways glance at Harry himself, but the moment everyone made as if to start leaving Sirius darted out first, and Harry didn't get the option to keep going anyways.

Remus wanted to follow after him, still struggling between giving him his space and trying to pitifully explain himself, and nearly walked past the table of food in his distraction to go back towards the bedrooms. Then he did a double take and realized what he was seeing.

"Oh that's fair," Tonks scoffed as she eyed the feast. "Our magic won't work, but this place'll supply us with food. Anybody else starting to feel hinky about this place?"

"Starting to?" Charlie frowned at the turkish delight, his favorite dish, which didn't feel like a coincidence. "I was the moment we got zapped in here."

"Well what are we supposed to do," Remus asked, scratching absently at his face as he eyed the meal, "starve?"

"Unless someone wants to guinea pig it," Tonks smirked.

"Perhaps we should-" Dumbledore began but was cut off by a panicky Arthur screaming, "Ron!"

The youngest Weasley, who clearly hadn't been listening to a word, had wandered over to the food as well and grabbed a fistful of crisps and began popping them in his mouth, having just offered some to Harry when his dad startled him so bad he coughed and nearly choked on one. Despite his panicky family though, nothing obviously bad was happening to him.

There wasn't too much deliberation after that, as Dumbledore finished what he'd been trying to say, "I do not believe we are in any harm in this place. If we are to be here for however long it is ordained, then obviously we need sustenance." Dumbledore reached over and plucked a cherry from a candied ham and popped it in his mouth, chewing with emphasis.

Most arguments faded out after that, the food smelled too delicious to pass up.

Harry took a seat uneasily between Ron and Neville again, but any feelings of awkwardness died down as they all shared the food. Harry had never realized he'd felt starved at the Dursleys, but he'd certainly never been allowed to have as much of whatever he wanted, and the plates kept refilling until everyone was satisfied. All except for one, which Remus had oddly been setting aside, and it wasn't until Harry finished his own plate did he realize that that Black character had never made a reappearance.

Harry felt bad for not noticing this earlier of the man who'd clearly been keeping an eye on him for whatever reason he still couldn't figure out, but he'd been rather distracted talking to those his own age. Though Neville and Ron would occasionally say something that went straight over Harry and Hermione's head, the four discovered that they actually enjoyed chatting and even having come from such different upbringings found they had a lot in common.

Now though as Harry's eyes started feeling droopy with such a proper meal, he was looking around for some sort of clue as to where a place to sleep would be when he'd noticed the missing person, and so was the first to notice when Remus took the plate and left through the door. Hoping that's where the bedrooms where, he got to his feet, walked that way, hesitated and waited for someone to call him back, but when no one did he kept going.

He quickly found the hallway lined with doors, and while he noticed Remus making his way to the last one, Harry didn't really want it to look like he was following him, so he slipped into the first available room. It was circular with a four poster bed that looked comfier than Harry had ever seen. Behind it was a closet stocked with clothes, and he'd been getting so many odd looks for his wardrobe he decided it may be best to try some on in the morning. For now he was so exhausted that he slumped down onto his bed, and remained passed out for quite some time, until a churning in his stomach abruptly started.

"Glory Sirius!"

Sirius didn't even glance up from the mirror, he'd probably already seen me in the reflection, but I couldn't help it. He'd clearly been in the bathroom this whole time, because his hair was dripping wet, and much shorter than I'd ever seen it. He must have found something to cut off the mounds of tangles, though he'd hardly done a clean job as it was still uneven and sloppy, though less ruly looking.

It was the rest of him that was so shocking. He was only wearing a pair of loose pants that showed off his concave stomach and protruding bones. Along with his mind, Azkaban seemed to have starved every last drop of fat right off of him. His skin was devoid of color, like all that had been sapped away as well. If Remus didn't know better, he'd have called him a vampire.

Sirius quickly tugged a shirt on over himself, turning to glare at him with arms crossed, his nose twitching as he zeroed in on the food.

Remus held it out, knowing it wasn't much of a peace offering, but still saying, "Look Sirius, I know this didn't start by my choice, but I really do want-"

He turned on his heel, walked out the door, and slammed it shut behind him.

Remus sighed, not exactly surprised, but definitely at his wits end tonight. He set the plate on the bed and left as well.

Sirius didn't know where he was going, but he knew he didn't want to be alone in a room with him. His feet dragged him back towards the bathroom, the only place so far he'd been able to find some peace. Being alone in a cell for so many years made being surrounded by all of these people a real freak out on his mind.

He passed all the rooms, not meaning to but cataloging who'd been inside each one. The red headed boy and the other kid his age who wasn't Harry were chatting in one, that Tonks girl and the Muggleborn were having some whispered conversation in another. He couldn't help but pause at one he could tell Dumbledore was in, peeking inside and finding the man sitting on the bed, eyes closed and fingers pressed together as if in prayer, though Sirius suspected it was more like deep thought. The last room housing voices was the two eldest Weasley's, he could hear they sounded stressed as they discussed whatever but Sirius really wasn't listening for specifics.

Finally Sirius' feet made it, but he paused before pushing the door open as he heard retching. His mind went back, he realized who he hadn't seen, and without further ado shoved the door open.

It was still disorienting to see James, not James. He'd only ever gotten to see Harry as the toddler he was, and even memories of him like that had all been slipped away. Now he could have been looking at an old photo of his best friend, leaning over a toilet and vomiting.

Sirius stood in the doorway, feeling panicky and at a total loss what to do as Harry's shoulders heaved, but then Sirius' feet were moving without command, and he was leaning down beside Harry and snatching his glasses away before they could fall into the bowl of sick, his hand wanting to reach out and pat the kids back in sympathy or something before quickly snatching that back away.

"Are you okay?" His face twitched with the force of his own stupid question before he quickly added on, "what made you sick?"

Harry reached up blindly for the handle, flushing the toilet and the smell as he sat back, rubbing at his lips and squinting at him as he muttered, "think I ate too much."

He gave one last spat into the porcelain before getting to his feat and unsteadily making his way to the sink. Sirius kept hovering and watching his progress, wishing he'd darted off to get him some water or something, but Harry took matters into his own hands and dipped his mouth below the faucet, swirling that around a bit before spitting that out as well. He wiped his mouth one more time with the sleeve of his too large shirt, and held his hand out for his glasses.

Sirius quickly handed them back, licking his lips with nerves as it finally occurred to him this was the first time he'd had an alone moment with Harry. So many things he wanted to say to his Godson built up in his throat, but each of them failed as he kept studying a boy he should know better than himself. Instead he was left wondering what that pucker of his lips was, why he had that crease above his brows as he studied Sirius right back.

Finally as the awkward silence continued to drag on and Sirius felt compelled to say something, he blurted out, "I know what you mean. It's why I skipped dinner, if I'd gorged myself I'd be sharing your spot." Oh yes, brilliant idea Sirius, share your miserable time in Azkaban with the kid, spiffing start!

Harry didn't seem too concerned with the topic though, actually giving a small smile as he said, "well you look better doing whatever you did, more human."

Then he blushed, realizing after the fact that had probably been rude, but Sirius cracked an honest grin and brushed at his hair, nodding and admitting, "figured I should take the benefits while we're stuck here."

Harry rocked back on his heels and glanced at the door, then back to Sirius. If he had to guess, Sirius thought Harry wanted to ask him something, but whatever that came out didn't seem to be it, he seemed to have lost his nerve at the last second. "Well, I'm back off to bed."

Sirius pursed his lips tight, but he'd always had a terrible compulsion control, so blurted without thinking, "you should still have something in your stomach though."

Harry turned back around curiously, so Sirius quickly tried to shrug off his concern and turn it into a joke, "dry heaves are the worst, trust me. You should go back to the kitchen, sip a little water, eat something extremely light, like crackers. In case you have a relapse."

Those dark green eyes had been haunting his nightmares for the past ten years, that look of fear traced into his mother's orbs the last time Sirius had ever seen them, but looking at Harry's now, wide and quizzical, Sirius actually felt something ebbing into him he hadn't felt in he'd lost track of the years. He was worried Harry had taken his concerned suggestion as an order though, because he turned towards the kitchen without remark.

Sirius followed after, feeling like kicking himself for not somehow phrasing this like a question and trying to reword it in his head. When they got to the kitchen though, Harry spoke up first, "do you know me?"

When Sirius didn't immediately answer, Harry turned back to face him with a bowl of nuts in his hand. There were so many ways Sirius wanted to answer that, but all he could imagine was the hate, and fear that would appear on his face when he found out what Sirius had done to his parents. He already had to deal with Remus thinking all that, he really couldn't stand Harry doing so as well. When he didn't answer, Harry had supplied himself with a glass of water as well and taken a seat at the table while he was talking, and Sirius hesitantly joined him while Harry kept going. "It's just that, you've been watching me the whole time we've been here, but not, you know, creepy. Like, like the strangers that passed me on the street sometimes and seemed to know me, you kind of look at me like that, but also..." he trailed off expectantly, as Sirius had just bolstered himself to open his mouth even though he still had no idea what would come out when Harry tried a new tactic. "How come all those people recognize me anyways? Is there some picture of me all wizards have?"

"Well I know there's a statue."

Both boys jumped and looked around to see Remus standing there in the doorway looking curiously at them.

Sirius felt his face freeze over as he turned away even as Remus kept going, "and Merlin do you look like your father, which I suppose is a general answer, but it doesn't depict you with a scar, and I can't answer for the strangers who wouldn't know you by sight."

Harry looked from Sirius to Remus, he'd long since noticed like everyone else the tension between the two, but still Harry was turning Remus' words in his mind over and was far more curious by what that could mean. He didn't know what it was, normally he wouldn't have dared ask any questions to begin with, but so far no one here had told him off for it, and so he decided he'd keep asking as long as he could. "Why would you know me by sight, without it?"

Remus flushed in shock as he tried to stutter out, "ah, err, well I-" he faltered, his eyes flickered to Sirius and away, then he sucked in deep breath and admitted, "I knew your dad."

Harry's eyes lit up like never before, suddenly watching him with a whole new longing he'd never known. Harry had never met anyone who even knew his parents in passing! Which is why he was all the more disappointed when Remus gestured vaguely back behind him and muttered, "it's getting late, I should-"

Then he left without further ado.

Harry slumped back in his chair, picking restlessly at the bowl of nuts before popping a few more in his mouth, sipping the last of his water, but finally turning back to Sirius and asking, "was it something I said?"

Sirius watched him for a long time, then gave one last look towards the shadowed door, his mind grappling for a moment because he didn't want to lie, but then deciding it wasn't that far from the truth when he grumbled, "don't ask me, I never really knew him."

Harry didn't know if he meant the man that had just walked away, Remus, or his dad James, but regardless he still wasn't getting an answer. Sirius Black watched patiently until Harry had finished the light snack and after he was clearly done he to left Harry with more questions than ever.

HPHPHP

Don't worry, Sirius is still really pissed and that seems really harsh because of it, but I promise I'll force them to have an actual conversation during the next break...just deciding when that's going to happen. For now, hope you enjoyed the interlude, more reading next time.


	6. THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS

I've decided to just finish this fic myself, but only this first book. Merlin knows I don't need to add yet another copy of this series under my belt. 

You can now request The Summoning- (Philosopher's Stone edition only) and I will email you a copy with book context as well.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

'It was a dream,' Harry told himself as he lay curled into himself, grasping as tightly as he still could to unconsciousness. 'I dreamed I was in a room full of wizards, with my dad's actual friend even! I'm going to open my eyes and find myself still in my cupboard.'

There was no sound though to disturb him, and he clung to the delusion as long as he could, until someone came bursting into his room.

Harry sat up abruptly to find Ron, smiling absently at him and apologizing for waking him, but he'd lost his shoes, and his dad would kill him if he went back without those!

Morning started with some all around confusion. While most of them were on the same sleeping schedule, a few in particular were used to more early rises. Arthur ended up waking up first, and after checking on his children and the others Ron's age, but then he noticed his youngest son didn't have the shoes he'd come in here with. Arthur couldn't blame him if he wasn't keeping too close of a track on it, they'd sort of had a lot to go through yesterday, but still he knew it couldn't be too many places here so Arthur went in search of it in the reading room first. He easily found them under the couch where he'd been sitting, and was heading back through the kitchen, but quickly stopped when he realized he'd be walking in on an awkward scene.

He'd never met either of those men before yesterday, and their actions since he had weren't endearing him to try to get to know them better. Black of course was the poster child of Azkaban, and notoriously You-Know-Who's right hand man. He was a madman, and rumor had it he'd even been the one to get Lily and James killed. Now Dumbleodre, the man who'd given testimony for this, was saying that he'd been mistaken. Arthur had no clue what had changed, but the man's cold actions towards everyone around him and the way he seemed to be keeping a particular eye on Harry felt worrisome. Of course, he'd been one of the loudest in the argument against Dumbledore advocating keeping Harry out of that abusive household when they got back, so maybe Arthur was missing something about him.

The other he'd never even heard of, but he had all the marks of a werewolf. Arthur had never met one in person to form an honest opinion, but his brutish and violent actions upon their arrival and the spastic way he kept acting around Black weren't exactly encouraging. At least he'd only been acting that way towards someone Arthur couldn't blame him for, but they still seemed too deranged as even Arthur wouldn't have started strangling random people even if they had been in Azkaban.

Even now the two were making him uneasy, as they were clearly having some kind of argument that was clearly one sided. Remus seemed to be trying to say something, but Black was literally paying him no mind, or at least trying to. Arthur didn't feel the need to listen in, so he ducked back towards the reading room out of hearing range.

Whatever it had been over, it must have been quick, because Remus came wandering in a few moments later, and looked surprised to see him.

Arthur quickly held up the shoes, and said, "Ron must have left this in here last night."

Remus had a slight frown on his face as he looked at Arthur and back towards the door, the clear question of if he'd heard, but then Ron came in with a panicky look on his face which quickly relaxed when he thanked his dad for grabbing his shoes for him.

Somehow breakfast felt a bit more tense than the previous meal, maybe that was because of how many people noticed Harry wasn't eating with the same gusto of last night. Instead he was picking at best at some eggs, and eating as little as the prisoner who'd been living off of meager meals given only frequently enough to survive was not encouraging to anyone.

When asked though, Harry just said he wasn't that hungry, and led the way to the reading room.

With one more glance around to check to make sure everyone was ready, Neville opened the book and went to his chapter.

"Woah, wait, is Hagrid showing up," Charlie yelped in shock as the chapter title was read.

"I thought it was supposed to be you," Tonks accused Dumbledore.

"I agreed I would be looking into the matter," Dumbledore calmly acknowledged, "but I can see myself easily sending Hagrid in my stead."

Harry's mind flipped back to the first chapter, of the friendly giant of a man named Hagrid who had taken him to Private Drive in the first place, and imagined that in a few more months it would be quite thrilling to really meet him.

Neville did not yell that as loud as should have been intended, and it made the others chuckle. Hagrid knocking could sound quite startling if you weren't expecting it.

"Didn't need that description," Ron smirked.

Arthur really wanted to scold his youngest son for saying such things about anyone, even if he didn't disagree, but when both Charlie and Harry laughed and Ron beamed Arthur couldn't bring himself to do it.

"A what!?" Hermione squeaked in surprise.

"You mean you don't know what that is either?" Charlie asked in surprise, he'd never heard of the thing.

"No, I just can't believe he'd bring something like that," Hermione pressed a horrified hand to her mouth. "That thing could really hurt someone, and he can't have gotten it legally, the laws make it nearly impossible for a common citizen to own a gun. I just can't believe he's doing all of this against someone."

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Remus tried to comfort the girl who was clearly getting panicky. "You've never met Hagrid, but I can promise you this won't be much of a problem for him."

Hermione looked dubious, even hearing about his large size doesn't mean he wouldn't have a large hole in him when that rifle went off, but didn't protest anymore.

"Err, why would someone think otherwise?" Arthur asked.

"It's an expression," Tonks shrugged, "it's the Muggles way of telling Hagrid he's got a gun."

"Ah, how odd," Arthur smiled nonetheless at the information.

"That was pretty violent of Hagrid," Remus arched a brow in surprise. "What's his game in breaking the door down?"

"Maybe he just got a little carried away," Charlie shrugged, the big guy had been known to forget his own strength.

He couldn't help it, Charlie started snickering at Hagrid. He actually wanted to shake his friend's hand, as he knew that would have given those rotten Dursleys a good scare which they deserved, and he wasn't even trying yet. Let Hagrid get one glimpse of Harry and things were going to get even better.

Harry relaxed slightly at the thought. Despite his compassion in the first chapter, it was nice to hear that he did something like smile at Harry upon first seeing him, a rarity for the boy.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise now, his breath hitching in shock. His mind scrambled to try and picture this, tried to put some images together of his parents with this scrap of information.

Remus and Sirius couldn't help but jolt a little in surprise, then wanted to smack themselves. They'd just heard last night that Harry had no clue what his parents looked like, but they'd been so busy wallowing in their own pity it hadn't even occurred to them yet to share that kind of thing with Harry. Now Hagrid had beaten them to the punch.

Sirius felt like a waste as he realized he wasn't going to be much help in doing so otherwise, but he still yelled at his brain that it had better remember something about them by the end of the day he could try to share.

Remus felt ashamed, because this had been what he'd really been wanting to say to Harry last night, but he'd chickened out at the last moment. He may have been the one to mention Harry looked like James, but he'd skipped out before adding anything more on. He could still try to make up for it though, go back and say something to Harry at the next opportunity, though what he still wasn't sure.

"Literally," Tonks smirked.

Hermione's mouth flopped open in shock, wondering just how strong this Hagrid was to have done something like that! She couldn't deny it did make her feel slightly better now that the weapon couldn't hurt anyone, but it was still as mind boggling up there with the rest of the magic she'd heard of lately.

"I wish," Remus grumbled.

Harry cocked his head to the side as he heard Neville say that, it was a rather odd thing to hear for the first time especially as it wasn't technically his birthday now.

Now Harry's mouth was actually opening and shutting in shock. He tried to control himself, he realized he was being an idiot getting so worked up over something like this, but the emotions really weren't being beaten down at the overwhelming gratitude the stranger was showing him over the Dursleys who'd never in his life done such a thing.

"Can't even blame you for that," Ron chuckled, "this has all come out of nowhere for you."

"What does that mean exactly?" Hermione swiftly asked. Now that she had a name to put with the odd chapter title, she wanted more details.

Dumbledore happily supplied for the bright girl, "it is Hagrid's job at Hogwarts to see over every bit of our grounds at the school, it is also he who escorts our new students into the school for the first time."

Hermione nodded in understanding.

"I sincerely doubt the Dursleys brought along anything stronger," Tonks rolled her eyes.

The more stuff being mentioned the more Harry's eyes widened in shock, now thinking that McGonagall's joke from the first chapter didn't seem so insane now. How much stuff could fit in a jacket?

"Oh that's right, he's having the worst day of his life and all," Tonks scoffed, "so of course he thinks he's going to get fed."

"It really is a miracle he didn't storm over and steal them from Hagrid," Charlie agreed.

"Guess he's more scared than hungry, that's got to be saying something," Tonks snickered.

Sirius couldn't help but feel the first true grin spread across his face as he wanted to thank Hagrid. Finally someone who was putting Harry first.

"Oh this should be brilliant," Arthur muttered to himself, hoping Hagrid would be as outraged as they'd been upon the Dursleys keeping that kind of secret from Harry Potter.

"Why would you apologize?" Neville asked in surprise.

Harry just shrugged, unsure how to explain that when someone was mad, Harry knew the best way to temper off the situation first was to start apologizing.

"Where hopefully they'll stay," Remus muttered absently.

Sirius' grin continued to widen into a full blown smirk. He'd had a few run-ins with Hagrid in his youth, unavoidable when you traipsed the grounds as often as they did, but never before had he been so fond of the guy. They were all vague and had gaping holes in the middle, no one exactly came to mind, but he was positive they'd still happened. It still bothered him a bit he couldn't remember Hagrid's voice.

The expression, if anyone besides Remus and Harry had cared to look, was pretty shocking of the man who had so far been trying to listen as expressionless as possible, but they were far too invested in listening to Hagrid to notice such things.

Remus tore his eyes away from Sirius with a surprised snort, correcting, "Harry that's not what he meant at all."

"I didn't know," Harry defended uneasily, wondering if he was going to get in trouble for doing so, but when Remus just looked surprised at Harry talking back rather than angry Harry finished, "it was pretty out of context."

"Fair enough," Remus agreed.

"What an articulate response," Tonks snorted, "I can see why he's a director of a company with skills like that."

Harry was still having trouble wrapping his mind around that, and he'd had a whole night to think on it.

"You can't  _ forbid  _ him from doing anything," Charlie scowled, "he's not like Harry who you boss around."

"He'll regret saying that very soon," Tonks agreed eagerly, wishing she could pluck the book away from Neville so that she could be reading this fantastic time instead.

Ron couldn't help but crack up laughing. He quickly noticed Harry's slightly hurt and confused expression, so Ron tried to control himself and explain, "sorry, I've just never seen someone react to the news before, and it was a bit underwhelming. Though I suppose, you and Hermione both haven't exactly started running around screaming about crazy people yet, so," he finished with a harmless shrug, and Harry couldn't deny his own smile as he agreed he was rather taking this in stride.

He supposed he, like Hermione, were just so happy to be getting any explanation for all the odd things that had happened in their youth, any answer wasn't going to be argued too much.

"Why is that so different?" Hermione asked in surprise. "The other letters were absurdly specific, this one was so general."

"I presume because Hagrid delivered it in person," Dumbledore offered, '' the magic need not be so precise. It is a unique situation, I do not believe one has ever had to be delivered in person before."

Ron couldn't stop yet more laughter, and this time Neville couldn't help but join in.

This time Hermione asked what was so funny, as she found it a perfectly logical question and had been wondering that plus countless other things.

"I don't know," Ron chortled, "it's just that, you read something like that, and that's his first question? It's funny."

"I think it's perfectly reasonable," Hermione frowned at him, thinking he was mocking them too much. "The last part of the letter was the deadline, so he should inform himself how to respond as soon as possible by whatever owling is."

Ron opened his mouth like he was going to argue with her, but then Arthur laid a restraining hand on his shoulder and waved Neville to go on.

Hermione squeaked in shock, her argument with Ron instantly forgotten as she demanded, "is that safe for the poor thing?"

"Oh he's perfectly fine," Remus quickly soothed. "Plenty of wizards will expand their pockets and put some protecting charms on them if they have to carry their owl without their cage for one reason or another."

Hermione looked more impressed at these feats of magic than concerned now, so Neville kept going before she could come up with more questions.

"An impressive feat," Charlie snorted, "as his writing isn't particularly legible right side up."

Those who had been worried earlier about Harry getting to Diagon Alley did relax at that news. It was good that Hagrid had been instructed to do this as well.

"What's a telephone?" Ron asked.

"It's ah, sort of like our owls," Tonks explained, "except, more instantaneous. You can talk directly to someone rather than waiting for a reply."

Ron frowned as he tried to imagine how someone could hear you like that, but didn't ask for more. He knew his dad would be later, so he'd just listen then.

"Well you failed miserably," Remus snapped in outrage. He couldn't stand hearing any more of what they'd done to Harry.

"Muggle-borns can't do magic at home without getting into trouble," Arthur raised a surprised brow.

"Oh Lily got quite a few letters from the Ministry informing her to stop doing otherwise," Dumbledore smiled in remembrance. "She was quite feisty over the fact, her accidental magic didn't quite tamper off when she left school and went home."

"With a sister like that, who can blame her," Tonks snorted.

Harry flinched in shock at hearing his mother be referred to like that. Even if he'd never met her, he didn't take kindly to someone calling her that. It did make him feel the smallest bit better though that Petunia never had said all of this to him, Harry would have hated this to be the first thing he'd heard about his mother, and was now quite grateful Hagrid had said what he did about them first.

Sirius couldn't stop a guttural growl for that lie all over again, he sounded quite mad while impersonating an animal and so was freaking the others out quite a lot, and only stopped when he felt Dumbledore's piercing eyes on him.

Harry still couldn't help a flush of shock at that declaration, still unsure what to do with this scrap of information that he was so famous.

Hermione was very glad Harry had asked that, she'd been wanting to know as well but it had felt rude.

Neville hadn't said the name proper either, but instead had said You-Know-Who like Tonks had. Harry and Hermione exchanged a surprised look, fear starting to sink into them as well as they couldn't imagine someone so evil you couldn't even say their name when he was long dead.

Only when Harry looked over and saw that Dumbledore, Remus, and Sirius had all rolled their eyes at this display did Harry want to ask for more, but instead concentrated on one story at a time and hoped Hagrid would give more details than even Dumbledore had about this.

Remus couldn't help but flinch away from Sirius at the reminder, hating himself more every minute he realized how wrong he'd been that Sirius wasn't one of those people. How could he have been so stupid? He needed to come up with some way to try and talk to him about this, but if Remus couldn't even forgive himself, he doubted Sirius would any time soon.

Dumbledore's expression spoke volumes of how true that would always remain so long as he was headmaster. He knew he would never allow Voldemort to get anywhere near his students.

Sirius was only surprised for the briefest moment at that information before it settled back into his mind like a missing puzzle piece, and for once he felt his shoulders relax at having regained such a memory. He definitely knew what he was going to share with Harry later.

Remus felt his nose wrinkling up with distaste at the hated thought, though honestly the question had never occurred to him. Voldemort's most current followers at that time would have gone to school with James and Lily, and would have easily been able to inform those two were not Death Eater material. Of course, the same should have been true for Sirius, and he and...well the more Remus thought about it the more of an idiot he felt.

Harry knew he should have felt scared at this, he certainly was upset upon learning first hand what had really happened to his parents, but it was all mingled enough with too much warmth that Hagrid was speaking so kindly about his parents. Harry really hoped he'd appear in this room, or that he could meet him very soon when he got a chance to go to this Hogwarts.

Dumbledore sighed heavily. He and one other soul knew why Voldemort had come after Harry that night, and while he did not regret the decision not to share this, he was very sorry indeed it had come down to this happening to a baby.

Harry clapped his hand to his scar like he was trying to smack it off. Suddenly that mark wasn't so cool to him anymore. Instead it meant something much, much worse.

Harry knew what he was going to be feeling, because he was feeling it now. This was more than he'd ever learned in his life, and the bombshell of news just didn't seem to have an end in sight.

All four children shivered at that, even the adults didn't look much better as they all hopped Harry was just imagining that.

Sirius shivered so violently he almost toppled off his perch. That was one of the last memories he had aside from what had gone down between him and a rat, that moment where Hagrid had come out of the ruined house with that baby in his arms. Sirius wished more than anything he'd taken the chance last night and said all this to Harry, that he could at least pretend for these few days they'd have together while these books were being read that he could play some sort of part for Harry. Now he'd missed this opportunity because he was being too much of a coward.

"Wish they weren't," someone muttered.

"So they did beat you!" Sirius howled, lunging to his feet all over again.

Before he could go on a full blown tirade though, Arthur quickly intervened, "listen to the wording. He said if he had it would have, fixed him," he finished with a nasty taste on his mouth. "That means that they didn't."

Sirius only minorly relaxed, but still he couldn't bring himself to sit back down. He started pacing the lengths of the wall again, in fact no one looked very comforted when they looked at Harry. He still looked too diminished for a boy his age, and hadn't spoken yay or nay to what either adult had said. If he hadn't been beaten, then they were all sure something had been done to him.

Remus made a noise remarkably close to how Sirius had sounded earlier, not that either one noticed. He was just beyond frustrated at everything, particularly himself. Harry should not have been raised by a man who would say something like that about the boy's parents! What had Dumbledore been thinking putting him there!

Hermione's pity for Harry having to deal with all of this did switch to confusion for now.

"That's not something you get to hear every day," Ron smirked, hoping those Dursleys would indeed say one more word now.

"It's alright Harry," Neville said kindly, seeing the boy's face now still looked a little too white and trying to help somehow. "I'm sure whatever questions you don't manage to ask Hagrid we can answer."

Ron instantly agreed, much to the pleasure of everyone else. They'd wanted to offer the same thing, but Harry really was responding best to those his age.

Harry's confusion managed to increase at such an explanation, thinking that Hagrid had just said both options weren't likely, but then what was the third? He decided he'd take Neville and Ron up on that offer late and see if they might know better.

Arthur sighed heavily as he shook his head, that spell had been a nightmare to deal with.

Harry was blinking slowly and steadily at everyone around the room, but only Dumbledore gave even the slightest impression that he may have some other idea, and Harry only guessed as much because he was the only one trying not to meet Harry's eyes right then, instead he looked to be in deep contemplation about something.

"The fact that it's commonplace, so your accidental magic wouldn't have kicked in every bleeding time it happened," Tonks hissed in outrage.

"It usually only works when something new or frightening is happening, occasionally one can pull it off if they're concentrating really hard, but like Tonks said, that doesn't seem the case for that instance," Charlie agreed with an ugly look in place.

"Magic doesn't automatically make you invulnerable," Charlie pointed out with a rueful rub at his leg where he'd recently had an injury.

"We'll have to disagree with you on that, Harry," Remus forced a chuckle to try and get rid of any lingering bad feelings. "You've most certainly displayed more than enough to prove otherwise."

Harry quickly gave him a winning smile back, he really wanted to try and stay on this man's good side today in hopes of trying to get a few more scraps of information about his dad out of him later, and besides, he really did agree now.

Harry nodded along with his own thoughts, this had already occurred to him as well, and while it didn't make the Dursleys' treatment of him feel any better, it was nice to finally have an explanation for it rather than just being a waste of space as they'd always claimed.

"Thank you Hagrid," Sirius sighed in relief, his own temper finally coming back down enough he stomped back to the group proper and retook his not really a seat.

Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle slightly, feeling Hagrid may be a bit biased on that and thinking what Madame Maxime would have said to the contrary, not to mention any of the other numerous heads of schools.

Harry couldn't help a small smile of agreement with that, he was already enjoying that part.

"You're right," Remus sniffed, "you're not. In fact, you have no bleeding say in the matter whatsoever."

"And never will again," Arthur agreed.

Both threw an obvious look at Dumbledore, who sighed and tried not to meet anyone's eyes.

Dumbledore couldn't help but be warmed at such defense from Hagrid, though he did wish it had been taken out on the man and not the child.

Not one person in the room could stop themselves laughing heartily at this, it was too much poetic justice.

While Harry laughed along though, he was far more interested in watching Sirius, who was genuinely chuckling as well. He hardly seemed to realize he was doing it, the expression just couldn't quite meet his eyes, but he was indeed letting out little starts and stops of spurting giggles like his body had forgotten how to and this was the first time he'd been given the chance.

He was the first to stop, not even Remus seemed to have noticed that he'd been doing so, and by the time Neville had calmed down, his face had settled back into a fairly neutral expression.

"Actually, you should have done it much sooner," Tonks corrected, she was the last person to have stopped her laughter and was still giggling along as Neville read.

Ron started snickering all over again, and Harry's grin stretched just that little bit wider in agreement.

"How come?" Hermione and Harry blurted out at the same time in surprise.

"That is for Hagrid to tell," Dumbledore replied simply.

Again Harry and Hermione had to fight down the compulsion to ask for more details, but one look at Dumbledore showed they'd be getting the same answer so they sat in wait.

"Subtle change of subject," Charlie smiled sadly. He'd tried many times to get Hagrid to tell him what had happened, but the man had never shared.

Harry was certainly distracted enough from the topic of Hagrid to realize he'd be sleeping under something alive, but it still sounded far warmer and kinder than some raggedy old blanket, and with the fire still going at least Harry could expect some sleep before an adventure with Hagrid.

  
  



	7. DIAGON ALLEY

Neville had finished his chapter, and automatically turned to give the book back to Harry as he was unclear who else it was supposed to go to, but Arthur who sat closest on the next available couch reached out his arm and offered, "I'll take it."

Before he could start though, Ron was tugging on his Dad's sleeve and asked, "I was thinking, if Muggles aren't allowed to use magic at home, how come Hagrid could curse Dudley like he did?"

"I would think it would more likely register on his accidental magic level," Dumbledore explained. "All that is known is that there was magic at that location, not who performed the magic, and as Harry had yet to be sent to school, any transgressions he did would not be pursued. It is after his first year when the Ministry will begin ensuring the warnings against it."

"Well there's some good news," Remus smirked, "I was a little worried Hagrid would get in trouble for that justifiable act."

"I would not allow that," Dumbledore shrugged.

Arthur read out the chapter title, and to everyone who understood it, joy that it promised to be the first good chapter with Harry's first magical experience.

"I can't imagine anyone having that kind of vivid dream," Ron chuckled.

"You're kind of depressing Harry," Neville told him with a sigh.

'To the cupboard,' Remus and Sirius mentally thought, still not willing to let that one go even if he was out of it now.

Harry couldn't help but beam. Even if being in this magical room had been convincing enough that this future interaction with Hagrid wasn't made up, it was still nice to have it confirmed.

Hermione couldn't help it, even after last night and Hagrid writing a note to be sent by owl, the fascination was still there of them delivering letters.

Arthur smiled warmly at the words, more than happy Harry was finally feeling something like a normal boy his age.

"I'm sure it'll take much more to wake him up," Ron snickered.

"They do not take kindly if someone tries not to pay them," Dumbledore instructed for the younger set, having heard quite a few stories of wizards trying to get out of it otherwise and ending up in Saint Mungos.

"How do you not know what that is?" Ron asked in surprise.

"There's no money called Knuts to us," Harry shrugged.

"Really, so what do you call it?" Ron asked, instantly intrigued.

"Err," Harry began, trying to decide where to begin to explain the whole system, but Arthur cut in, "I was going to ask them for some details of that as well later."

"I don't get it," Neville asked in surprise, as Harry now had a very downtrodden face indeed, "wouldn't you want to go do that?"

Harry was slowly turning red from embarrassment, not exactly wanting to admit again what he knew he was fixing to confide in Hagrid.

"Oh that won't remain a problem," Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "You're parents did not leave you with nothing my dear boy, as I'm sure Hagrid will explain."

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise, absolutely sure he was misunderstanding what he was being told, but didn't argue the point.

"Why would you think we kept money in our house," Ron chuckled.

"It's a fair assumption," Hermione butted in with a frown at him, thinking he was mocking more than asking lately. "He'd just pulled money out of Hagrid's coat, and there are tales of magical creatures making money appear at will."

"Alright you two," Arthur cut in before Ron could respond, "no need for the snipping, let me get on."

"Sausage and cake for breakfast," Charlie smacked his lips in appreciation, "think I know what I want for my birthday."

"I'm sure your mother will indulge," Arthur chuckled.

"Well yeah, what else," Ron laughed.

"So do all magical creatures exist!" Harry yelped before Hermione could scold him again. "Leprechauns and things?"

"Well yes," Neville nodded.

Harry felt like his head was starting to swim with so much information, so he kept quiet until he could figure out where his tongue went.

Harry nodded like Hagrid had just given him that caution now. Not that he ever intended to rob goblins in his life, but any advice he could take on who not to mess with in the magical world would be instantly heeded.

While Remus didn't disagree, he'd always liked Hagrid and didn't doubt his trust, he did wish Dumbledore had sent someone a bit less conspicuous as the giant man to escort Harry around, that felt like a walking target. Then Remus realized he'd be grumbling about anyone other than himself doing this task, and winced as he realized it was his own fault for not fighting Dumbledore harder to allow him to stay in Harry's life.

"Flew?" Harry and Hermione repeated in shock.

Dumbledore chuckled though, correcting, "I am sure Hagrid does not mean that literally. Oftentimes when I have him run errands for me, I set him up with a portkey to take him places he needs to go, which will return him to Hogwarts when he is done. The sensation of using one feels like flying."

"What's a Portkey?" Hermione persisted.

"An object that can be used to teleport you from one location to another almost instantly," Dumbledore instructed. Hermione still looked like she had a ton of questions to be asking about this, and he would have been happy to answer them all, but Arthur had decided to keep going as he knew everyone in here wanted to sit around asking questions all day if they could.

Tonks gave a merry laugh of agreement, it was hard to imagine Hagrid sprouting wings and taking off without doing so.

Hermione had to purse her own lips shut to stop herself from asking about this umbrella already. She pieced together that those sticks she'd seen Dumbledore and Arthur waving around when they first got here were most likely wands, so why was Hagrid using this? Then she remembered how Hagrid had mentioned he'd had his wand snapped, and so instead began wondering if this was some form of replacement.

"Dragons," Hermione yelped.

"True," Remus agreed, while Ron started snickering about how Hermione had just asked about other creatures being real, and still being shocked about this. Remus kept going though, "but don't worry, the Goblins have them well handled."

Hermione did not look reassured.

All of the elders gave a little flinch as they tried to repress what Vernon would have done to impress that upon Harry, and instead tried to focus on a way to basically reteach him everything he'd been forced to learn from those Dursleys.

Sirius couldn't seem to stall himself this time as he quickly told Harry, "you know that's not a problem here right. You can ask away as often as you want."

Harry gave him a happy little smile back, his little chat with him last night really had made Sirius seem more approachable than anyone so far, and Harry quickly agreed he'd speak up if he really wanted to.

Most of the others watched astounded, unable to grasp how the convict seemed to have most easily gotten through to Harry as he'd just flinched away from everyone else before. Only Remus had the smallest of smiles on his face, unable to put into words how happy he was that even if he couldn't get Sirius to talk to him any time soon, at least the Godfather was getting something owed to him in this place.

"Because that's so encouraging of our minister," Tonks rolled her eyes.

"I don't see why you wouldn't take the job sir," Charlie sighed in agreement, "since it sounds like you practically give all the good advice anyways."

"I could never bring myself to leave my school," Dumbledore answered simply.

"Well that's one of the issues," Charlie snorted.

"The other being that people like Vernon would have us all burned at the stake, make our lives just a little more annoying trying to catch us," Tonks agreed, putting emphasis on the word trying to emphasize to the kids what she really thought of the Muggles ability to do this.

"But some Muggles know," Hermione pointed out, thinking of herself, and Harry's Aunt. "What does the Ministry do about them?"

"Keep a very good eye on them," Arthur explained, "make sure they're kept as far away as possible."

Hermione had many more questions about the technicalities of how this would work, but was realizing that while Harry was being encouraged to ask questions, the shorter answers were better so things could move on.

"Woah, wiat, I heard nothing about that boat going back to that house," Tonks yelped, making a rewind motion with her hands and a fairly evil grin spread across her face. "Does that mean Harry's free of them!"

"Sadly, I doubt it," Charlie sighed, "most likely that toothless old man who rented the place would take the boat up there later to check it over, see the Dursleys were still there. They'd probably spin some tale about how it washed to shore or something."

"You're just killing my fun," Tonks pouted.

"What's a parking meter?" Neville whispered to Harry.

"Err, you have to pay it, otherwise someone will come by and take your car if you don't," Harry offered back just as quietly.

Neville just looked at Harry like he thought he was joking.

"He'd like one!" Ron spluttered.

"Sure, Hagrid and I get into discussions about them all the time," Charlie shrugged off. "It was his idea that led me to being a dragon keeper, closest I could ever come to wanting the same."

Ron was watching his brother with an open mouth, he'd honestly thought his brother had been joking whenever he'd mentioned this before.

"So, is the wand hidden in the umbrella?" Hermione asked with perplexity, thinking of all Hagrid had done so far.

"Oh no," Remus quickly corrected, "that's just what Hagrid uses, the standard wand is much more like this," he pulled his own out of his pocket and only hesitated a moment before offering it to her to investigate. It's not like it would work here anyways. Harry got up as well and cautiously eased over, but when no one shouted at him to get back he looked over the simple design as well. The wood was smooth and looked moderately used, with a simple bulb on the end.

Hermione handed it back and Harry quickly scurried back to his seat, but now that their curiosity had been satisfied, the two honestly wanted to keep asking for more. They knew at least Arthur and Dumbeldore had wands as well, now that they understood their original confrontation and what they'd been holding, and were begging to see theirs as well, but restrained themselves for the time being.

Ron gave a miserable sigh, asking "what are the odds they'll change that rule sometime soon."

"None whatsoever," Charlie chuckled.

"How does he know where he's going, if not from there?" Hermione asked.

"Hagrid has been to Diagon Alley many times," Dumbledore answered, "and the Portkey that takes him there has had to drop him off at several different locations, so he's had to learn to navigate his way through the streets. It would not be good for him to keep popping up in the same places."

"There sure are," Ron smiled, "oh you're going to love going there Harry, just wait until you get into Quality Quidditch Supplies!"

Harry wanted to open his mouth to ask what on earth that could be about, but decided to see if he'd hear about it first.

Tonks made a 'pfft,' noise, saying with all the sarcasm, "as if they had that kind of sense of humor."

"Maybe that's because you've never been around anyone trustworthy before," Arthur huffed under his breath as he flipped the page, thankful to see Harry looked at least comfortable with where he was now.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Tonks snorted.

"No, they can't," Dumbledore confirmed, "there are many things Muggle proofed that their mind will simply gloss right over."

"I'm fairly certain at this point it is famous for being dark and shabby," Charlie laughed, "if it was anything else, it'd just be weird."

"I guess he does," Arthur chuckled, "I've never thought about it."

Harry couldn't help but flush in shock all over again. He'd already experienced this once when everyone in here had acknowledged him like that, but the shock of it still hadn't worn off of just completely random strangers knowing his name.

And even these people hadn't done that! Harry was burrowing into the cushions of his seat, fighting the urge to lift a pillow and bury his face in it to try and pretend he couldn't feel all eyes on him even now. He didn't want all of this fame and attention!

Sirius looked deeply disgusted at that, some of his like for Hagrid melting just a bit. Couldn't Hagrid tell Harry wasn't liking this one bit, he wished Hagrid would hurry up and escort Harry out of there. Who knew what half of those people were, they could have been Death Eaters in disguise!

Remus scoffed and had to fight down the urge to throw in Dumbledore's face this was exactly his point of why Hagrid being his escort had been such a bad idea, really the poor boy didn't need this experience in his life.

"I feel compelled to repeat," Sirius ground out, unable to take worried eyes off of Harry who was clearly trying to make himself invisible with or without magic. "Exactly how safe was he when this random wizard could find him in a shop to bow to him!" He was nearly shouting by the end, perhaps leading to Dumbeldore's sharper than normal tone.

"I assured you Sirius, and my word should be good enough for you. No harm can come to Harry while he's there."

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to trust your assurances,  _ because?" _ Sirius snarled back.

The others who were watching were surprised to see Dumbledore was actually frowning, some anger beginning to creep into his tones as he rebuked, "Sirius, we do not need to have this argument in front of the children, but if you have grievances about me we shall discuss them in private. I will not however, listen to this for now, when we have other matters to attend to."

Sirius worked his jaw furiously for a few moments, fighting down the impulse to strangle the old man for clearly not caring one bit Harry was being mortified over there and wondering just how much Dumbledore cared at all, but Arthur kept going around the awkward silence.

Arthur really was beginning to agree with Black though, he wished someone would step in and save Harry from this moment.

Dumbledore relaxed back now that the subject had been abruptly changed, happy to hear about his newest appointment for the DADA instead. Quirinius certainly wasn't the best man for the job, but his recent stint in Albania did lead him to have a want to have him around for at least a year in hopes to hear what he'd seen while out there, even if Quirrell himself didn't realize he was sharing what Dumbledore wanted to hear. He certainly knew something judging by the initial interview of the job.

"Oh this is encouraging," Charlie frowned.

"Great, seems you're going to have a fun teacher," Tonks said without bothering to hide her sarcasm.

The others were starting to agree with the friend's assessment, this man did not really seem up to the task of teaching anything, let alone one of the most important classes at school. They were not sure if they could really blame Dumbledore for this problem though, that curse had been going on so long it must be hard to find anyone to fill the post.

Sirius and Remus finally begin to relax again though now that Harry was out of that bleeding annoying situation. For the first time they seemed to realize they'd been reacting the same way to the same thing, but while Remus tried to catch Sirius' eye, Sirius still wasn't having it.

"Wow, I'm sure that can be quite scary for someone if they don't know how to handle it," Arthur agreed with sympathy.

"He's the guy who's supposed to be handling it," Remus grumbled.

Dumbledore was ignoring the little dispute, his mind still lingering on what really could have spooked Quirinius.

"Oh dear, do we need to take a break again?" Arthur quickly asked Harry.

"No, no," he insisted at once, the red tinge to his face still hadn't quite left because of that last scene, and Harry wanted nothing more than to move on and forget about it, taking a break would not accomplish that.

Arthur looked unsure, but didn't argue either.

Harry and Hermione were listening with more eagerness than they ever had in their life. Finally, the first real step into the magical world!

Ron shivered in disgust at the very thought, as the only thing that meant to him was spiders.

Neville on the other hand nodded in agreement, telling, "yeah, I've been a few times and even I feel that way when I still go."

Harry was watching those around him chuckle with pure indulgence, which still managed to confuse him. The Dursleys would always snap at him if ever they caught him staring at anything for longer than a few moments, always stating it was rude to stare. Harry couldn't seem to ever guess correctly the reactions those around him would have, and it was leaving him very wrong footed.

Sirius was blinking rather sluggish, some memory long eaten away about something to do with dragon livers. Thankfully, or not, stupid useless facts had never been taken, so he did recognize that prices had sure gone up on that.

Ron was quivering with excitement at the reminder, he'd already dragged his parents to that store the day it had come out just so he could see it, and he still couldn't wait to see it again!

Hermione was quivering with excitement as she heard about all of this, wanting to ask the Goblin a million questions that had come to mind, wanting to sprint to that bookstore and collect every one in sight!

Harry was just happy they were polite, he'd heard some scary stories about Goblins and other monsters on the playground.

Tonks chuckled, she always loved reading that when she went in, finding the rhyming warning rather fascinating for how she'd heard goblins operate.

Harry braced himself for another Leaky Cauldron moment like the last time his name had popped up, knowing he wasn't going to find this place fascinating much longer when that happened.

Remus sighed as he remembered this type of thing being brought up by Dumbledore on the worst night of his life. In his strive to convince Remus to leave Harry be in the muggle world, his headmaster had also mentioned he'd be taking control of Harry's assets and basically being his magical guardian in the world. It was the little things like Dumbledore having that key for all these years that really struck him.

"Oh he's subtle," Charlie snorted.

"Wonder what it is," Tonks agreed eagerly as she eyed Dumbledore expectantly, but he had a kind smile in place and looked in no way to answer.

Truthfully Dumbledore was wondering what on earth he'd be doing pulling that out, and his mind flickered back to the very beginning and now knowing this must be how Harry came into contact with the Stone.

"People don't work directly inside Gringotts," Charlie told Harry, thinking about all Bill had told him in his research on the place. "They do hire wizards, but not for this kind of work, so you won't find them in there."

Arthur was smiling the more he read about Harry asking questions of Hagrid. He wished the boy would do more in the room, but he did understand the difference between one person who had so clearly been friendly to him, and a room full of people.

Pretty much everyone pouted in disappointment, Tonks watching her headmaster curiously like she was hoping he'd suddenly change his mind and tell them any moment, but his impassive face was showing no give.

"Good luck with that," Charlie chuckled, "even if by some miracle you had, the route magically changes every time. Only a goblin can navigate it."

"I don't think you're deep enough in yet," Remus shook his head, "most likely you just saw a trap being deactivated by a fellow goblin going around."

All of the kids started laughing at that, Ron chuckling and agreed, "well he's not wrong."

Hermione's amusement wore off the fastest though, and seemed unable to restrain herself from correctly explaining, "A stalactite is an icicle-shaped formation that hangs from the ceiling of a cave, and is produced by precipitation of minerals from water dripping through the cave ceiling, while stalagmites-"

"Alright Hermione," Ron groaned when he realized how long she was going to keep going. "We get it, and no one here actually asked."

Hermione frowned reproachfully at him, but then Arthur kept going.

Harry had a mingled look on his face, like he wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about all this. He was still grasping the concept that he may be able to do magic, let alone piles of gold!

Remus noticed and couldn't help but laugh at the expression, explaining, "that's mostly a product of your grandparents. Your grandfather, Fleamont, already came from a wealthy family, and your grandmother, Euphemia, invented the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, so you've technically been gaining profits from that for as long as it's sold."

Harry sat there, blinking at him as he had no idea how to even begin to respond to that, while Remus hesitated and glanced hopefully at Sirius. When all he did was sit there with a look of pain on his face, Remus could only guess he was having issues remembering anything he was saying, Remus kept going, "ah, your father always loved to make jokes about the irony of his parents owning that while he constantly went out of his way to keep his hair as unnaturally messy as possible."

Harry felt himself laughing in a way he never had in his life, clinging to this moment he'd just learned about his dad and looking hopefully at the man for more, but Remus was still watching Sirius with great concern, as he knew he should have jumped in long before this. Nothing was coming of it though, and Arthur decided to keep going while the silence lasted no matter the genuinely touching scene.

"They could do no such thing," Charlie scoffed, "they have no rights to it."

Dumbledore kept his mouth firmly shut that, in fact, he did send a small penance to them in help for the Dursleys to raise Harry from his own funding, it was only right after all they should be compensated for taking care of the boy. He had no clue that they'd never spent a drop of the money on Harry, and Dumbledore did hope once he saw Harry at school he'd put a stop to the money at least.

"I can't believe they ever would have said that with a straight face," Tonks hissed.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at that, as he did the same thing almost every time since he knew the walls were magicked not to actually let you make an impact. Tonks on the other hand shivered at the thought, just imagining herself losing balance and falling out of that cart, no matter what magic would be in place to stop her, she was sure her clumsiness would find a way to pull it off.

"That's murder!" Hermione spluttered in shock.

"That's their fault," Ron snorted. "It was them who got caught, and the Ministry doesn't interfere inside Gringotts, everyone knows that, so it's the goblins who get to decide the punishment."

Hermione still looked uneasey over the whole thing as she didn't really like the idea of capital punishment, and would have argued the point if the story hadn't kept going.

"I sure don't," Ron scoffed, his argument with Hermione already forgotten. "Hope you do find out."

Hermione found herself finally agreeing with Ron about something, if she'd had this book to herself she'd have been done by now and surely have the answer.

"Are you kidding me," Sirius snapped, finally forcing his empty mind to stop struggling on forgotten memories already and focus on something he knew he could get his mind around. "He sent Harry off on his own, how is that safe!"

"Calm yourself-" Dumbledore began, but Sirius wasn't having it this time.

"No, I'm sick of you telling me to keep calm. You need to explain why the bloody hell him going off on his own is any kind of okay, when anyone holding a mild grudge against him could hurt him the moment Hagrid was out of sight!"

Dumbledore looked on at him coldly now, and any braver man than Sirius would have shrunken back in fright, but Remus was now positive that prison had zapped Sirius' sense of life as well as his memories when he did no such thing but instead kept a solid glare. He laid a restraining hand on Sirius' shoulder, and he must have been so involved in his glaring match that he didn't even shake it off as Remus spoke to Dumbledore, "please, we're just worried. Can't you just explain to us why you're not."

"These are things I have not shared for a reason," Dumbledore states with no room for argument in his tone. "The more who know, the less safe it could be, for now you must trust me that I have no fear Voldemort could hurt Harry."

"I'm not worried about Voldemort, because he hasn't been in the picture for now," Sirius grounded out between gritted teeth, sick of feeling completely ignored in this, "I'm worried about anyone else in the vicinity. The fact that you haven't yet included his followers in this so-called protection is not comforting."

"I said, Black, that we will discuss this  _ later,"  _ Dumbledore spoke with such finality, Sirius couldn't help but flush and sit back like a scolded child, unbalanced, and fell into his seat proper, dislodging Remus' hand before he even seemed to have realized it was there. The action had finally seemed to distract the man long enough he trailed off into munitions mutterings instead of outright disobeyment now, and he was still distracted enough he didn't move back away from Remus either, so Remus wasn't going to do anything to the contrary.

Arthur had watched the whole thing like one would a cage match, fighting down the urge to stand protectively in front of his kids in the meantime at all the powerful charges being set off in the room. Harry in particular had seen all of this as if from a great distance, still floored he was the center of all this and why for that matter, but no one tried to stop Arthur when he finally kept going.

Harry had to fight down the urge to petulantly point out that this boy was out on his own, the main point he'd gotten from that argument that these adults around him didn't think he could handle being out on his own. He walked around his neighborhood by himself all the time, and this boy was in the shop by himself as well, it wasn't that unusual. He didn't say anything though, but instead smiled when Ron and Neville caught his eye and gave him a sympathetic smile for his plight, no kid liked to feel singled out like they knew he was feeling.

Hermione made a snappy noise of protest at such a rude boy, and was pleased that at least her and Ron could agree on something again as he had the appropriate face as well.

Ron suddenly gasped as he hadn't realized The Boy Who Lived could lack knowledge on such a thing, turning wildly to him and exclaiming, "Merlin's Beard, that's right, you wouldn't know! Oh this is going to be fantastic, I'm going to show you all kinds of neat tricks. My brothers let me borrow their brooms all the time as well-"

"Okay Ron," Charlie cut him off with a hearty laugh. "I'm just as astounded at the news as you, but we can't go onto the field now to practice."

Ron pouted but agreed for now.

"Oh the Hogwarts houses!" Neville couldn't seem to stop himself from bouncing around in sheer joy at the thought of those. He froze though, waiting for someone to tell him to stop as well, but apparently they all thought this was relevant enough no one stopped him as Neville launched off, "Okay, so when you get to school, you'll be sorted into one of four. Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, or Ravenclaw. Each has its own backstory and what not! My Mum was a Hufflepuff, but my Dad was a Gryffindor, so it would be fantastic if you wound up in one of those." As Neville longed to hear the common room where his parents would have been in, knowing he'd never make it in there himself. There was no way he was magic enough to get into the school.

Harry watched him with deep interest, before turning wide eyes to Remus, the question burning through him of what his own parents had been in, and Remus easily caught the look and gave a kind smile as he stated, "Gryffindor, both of your parents actually."

Harry felt a deep shiver of longing pass through him then, now knowing instantly which house he'd be begging for.

"That's awesome, it means you'll probably get sorted with me!" Ron cheered. "All my family's in Gryffindor as well, and families tend to get sorted together."

Harry beamed, and wanted to keep asking for more, like how you were put into these Houses, but then Dumbledore did say, "that is enough explanations for now. Don't want to ruin the whole surprise of when you get there now." He gave such a carefree chuckle and a happy smile at Harry, it was hard to imagine that sharp and cold old man before who'd been scolding Sirius. It left Harry feeling off, unsure on who he was supposed to be looking for more, Sirius who had been the first adult to really approach him and try to have a proper conversation with him, or Dumbledore who was so clearly knowledgeable about everything and seemed to want to keep Harry safe.

Tonks spluttered in outrage, Hermione correctly interpreting, "so is that your house?"

"Bloody right it is," Tonks snapped, and for just a moment Hermione was sure she watched her eyes flash a dark amber in anger before settling back to purple, "and I couldn't be prouder! Little wanker saying that, hope he gets into that house just to watch him leave."

"Houses throw out crap about each other all the time," Charlie soothed her before she could go hunt down this kid, "you've said just as much about the others, including my house, to my face."

"Well yes," Tonks rolled her eyes, "but that's in good fun."

"I'm rather glad he can't," Remus muttered to himself, "won't pretend I want Harry talking to him."

He startled in surprise when Sirius twitched beside him, having not even realized Sirius was paying enough attention to him to react. Then again, it had been so many years since anyone had heard his quiet mutterings to himself, it would have startled him for anyone to notice.

"Well that was sweet," Arthur said with placation, still giving cautious looks to Sirius and Dumbledore as the tension between them was far from melted. "Least he went out and did something nice for Harry like that."

"Makes him okay in my book," Tonks agreed, smacking her lips in appreciation as she suddenly wanted a cone now.

"Can you imagine if he got zapped in here with us?" Ron scoffed at the idea.

"I think I'd leave," Neville mock quoted quietly to himself, causing Harry to start snickering beside him.

That tampered out Harry's mood along with everyone else's. What they wouldn't give to hear about Lily and James escorting Harry around this place for the first time, and all the fun things they'd be getting up to. Instead, this was the best option they could hope for, a kind stranger.

"That's not exactly what he meant," Charlie said with an eye roll.

"But you are just as right," Tonks huffed.

Harry looked at them in confusion, but had no idea what to make of the exchange and didn't speak up to ask.

Harry's heart sunk down to his shoes as he now realized he had a good guess what this boy was talking about, and realizing that applied to him. Was he right, and he didn't belong at Hogwarts?

Sirius had finally stopped his glaring at Dumbledore, Remus' little mutter had distracted him enough he was now looking for something else to focus on, and he chose Harry, so he noticed the boy's suddenly depressed look. Sirius had to suddenly fight down the impulse to go to the boy's side, offer comfort and promise that this little brat had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't know how Harry would take to him doing that though, so for now he bottled that up and just promised himself that he'd find Harry again tonight to hopefully have another good chat with him, convince him of this then.

"I can't wait to hear this," Ron gave a twisted little grin, "that brat's going to have a cow when he realizes who you are."

"He'll be eating his words in no time," Neville agreed.

"Why were you done first?" Hermione asked. "He was in there first."

"Probably getting more than one thing or something," Ron offered with a shrug.

Remus sighed heavily, for the millionth time wanting to punch those Dursleys in the face for implanting in Harry not to speak up about something that was bothering him, a feeling he was clearly still carrying in here. He, like Sirius, had noticed Harry's low mood in here as well, but couldn't even begin to wonder how he could go about fixing it, he'd probably just cause more harm than good again.

"Oh yes!" Ron bounced in his seat with pure joy now. "Hagrid should at least get you started on the idea, it's driving me crazy you don't know!"

Harry cocked his head to the side as he considered that, suddenly smiling anew again as he decided that did make him feel a bit better.

Sirius couldn't help a bitter frown though, there it was again, Hagrid beating him to the punch of something Sirius had wanted to say, all because he was over here hesitating. When did he ever do that? Look what it was costing him! Azkaban must have really unplugged him.

"I'm impressed he knows what that is," Tonks smiled.

"Err, what is it?" Ron asked.

"Well, it's sort of like Quidditch, except played on the ground, with just one ball," Tonks tried for an easy explanation.

Ron frowned in confusion, that didn't sound like a very fun sport to him, but didn't press for more.

"Oh please Harry, you're not a duffer," Remus rolled his eyes.

"And the house is nothing like that," Tonks snapped hotly, "so even if you were, it wouldn't matter. Wait, that came out wrong." She finished with a frown at herself now.

"I'm sure Hagrid meant to finish in much clearer tones in support of the house," Dumbledore chuckled.

"There's those rumors for houses I mentioned," Neville shook his head.

"Though that one I believe," Ron sniffed.

Harry looked stunned at the news, but he supposed it wasn't that surprising either, even an evil sorcerer had to go to school at some point.

Hermione was wringing her hands in anticipation as she was dying to go and study every one of those!

"A noble and worthy effort," Charlie agreed.

"He'd be a hypocrite if he did," Tonks snorted.

"And sadly, that's true too," Charlie snorted.

"But I'll be more than happy to do it for you until you can," Tonks chipped in.

"It's a good thing you've got Hagrid around," Arthur shook his head, "some potions can be temperamental with the metal they're brewed in, even first year levels, so your professor wouldn't have been pleased if you showed up with that; as the school only brews those that are standard pewter."

Harry nodded in acquaintance, even if he was still dying to get an eye full of a solid gold cauldron!

"That wasn't on the list!" Hermione suddenly yelped, her eyes flying so wide they were likely to go out of her head as she began worrying at once what she'd do when she didn't collect those, she'd be behind on her very first class and-

"Breathe Hermione," Tonks chuckled, "that shops well aware Hogwarts doesn't have that on their list for some odd reason," she paused to give an obvious look at Dumbledore, "so the shop owners got a sign out front saying all first years need to stop in and talk to a manager to get this."

"It is not under the school supply list because we offer basic ingredients for the first few months of class," Dumbledore explained. "We are well aware most accidents and mishaps will happen in the beginning, so rather than having the parents pay for a whole kit that will most likely go to ruins, we allow our students to experiment with our supplies first. During the year they are made aware that this will not be done so the next, and they are expected to bring their own if they had not already."

Harry and Hermione sat back in their seats, panic instantly gone from his comforting voice.

"It's your birthday Harry," Remus sighed, wanting to rip his tongue out rather than have to actually explain this to the boy. "He doesn't  _ have  _ to, but someone should for you. That's the point of it."

Harry was still going flush with embarrassment, but wasn't up for arguing the point.

Neville's face fell a bit at that, he loved toads, he found them all the time hoping around the lake of his house and they were always fun to watch.

Now Hermione was pouting, she loved cats and had been begging her parents to let her have one for ages.

Harry's eyes lit up like Christmas though, as that had been the pet of choice he'd been thinking when he'd first heard what he could bring, but of course he never would have brought up getting his own as he knew the Dursleys wouldn't allow it. When he passively mentioned that Hagrid would get it for him though, would they really make him get rid of it? He hoped not!

"Ooh, that's beautiful," Hermione beamed.

"That really is cool," Ron agreed.

Remus and Sirius felt themselves stiffen, suddenly giving an extra hard look at Dumbledore. Why would Hagrid make a comment like that? Had he simply taken in Harry's situation last night and guessed as much, or could Dumbledore even really possibly know something of what was going on there and had mentioned it to Hagrid, but still wasn't really going to do anything about it?

He'd already put on such a temper towards Sirius though, it didn't feel safe to question him about this now.

Dumbledore couldn't help but sit up a little straighter for this part. He knew of one wand in particular from that store, one that he'd instructed Ollivander to send him a message about the moment it was bought. In over thirty years the brother wand had not been purchased...but perhaps it finally would be today.

"It's what everyone looks forward to the most," Ron agreed fervently, he couldn't wait to get his own!

Neville just sighed with pure longing, knowing full well that his Gran would never take him to get his own as she wouldn't see a point, seeing as he wouldn't even be getting into the school.

"Ooh, did that wand belong to someone special?" Hermione asked.

"Rumor is, it was Merlin's" Tonks chuckled, "but I think Ollivander's just been putting that out himself to spread business."

"Sort of like Gregorovitch claiming he modeled his after the elder wand," Charlie agreed with some chuckling.

Arthur laughed along as well, but no one noticed Dumbledore frowning slightly behind his beard, as he was the only one who knew how true that was.

"That's a dead useful skill," Neville yelped in surprise, "my Gran told me that some wizards can actually sense magic in the air and hone that!"

Harry was blushing in shock again, like he needed another odd thing about him, but then his eyes went to Sirius without permission and saw him smiling like the news he was special wasn't that shocking at all, and Harry surprisingly felt better for it.

"I'm impressed it held his weight for that long," Tonks smirked, while Charlie pinched her again for the mean spirited remark even if she didn't mean anything bad by it.

Harry was blinking steadily as he got hold of more new information about his parents, trying to etch every bit of it into his mind forever.

"Came in handy for that too," Remus muttered absently to himself, and was still surprised when Sirius seemed to actually hear him again, and even more surprised when he actually made a soft sound of amusement. Remus turned to look at him full on, but for all the world his face was still as impassive as ever, giving no indication he'd done any such thing. Remus' mind was starting to flounder, completely thrown off but cherishing the fact that Sirius seemed to still be listening in but wasn't trying to move back away from Remus. He still was far from acting like he wished he would, but Remus would take what he could get.

Arthur sighed, wishing Hagrid would step in already, Harry had gotten more than enough unwanted attention today and thought someone should stand up already and tell Olivander and everyone else to give the boy some space.

Hermione scowled in Harry's defense, thinking laying a finger on him was going far past the levels here, and Harry's disquieted look showed he agreed.

"Wait, wait," Remus yelped, making a rewind motion with his hands in shock, if anything could distract him from Sirius it was this! "Does Ollivander know the man who bought Voldermort's wand!"

Dumbledore had to think carefully on his answer before saying slowly, "yes, I imagine he does."

The others sat there flabbergasted for a moment, but Dumbledore did not want this to linger any longer, too eager to get to the real meat of what he hoped was coming, so kindly offered, "Arthur, if you would like me to continue, I would be delighted to do so."

"No, no," he quickly waved off, keeping the book closer to him, "I was just surprised is all."

'It will possibly be getting worse soon,' Dumbledore thought to himself.

All of the kids released surpressed giggles even though they'd already put this together.

Harry was blinking slowly as he dearly wanted to ask what measuring his head had to do with getting a wand, but was far more interested in hearing what that wand would be to ask.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair in disappointment. Ollivander was well known for his ability to guess a person's wand on their first try, and if he thought that was what suited Harry best, he wouldn't put money on him being wrong even if he'd have liked to think so otherwise.

Then Dumbledore felt renewed again at once in his excitement. So perhaps Ollivander was just stalling, there was every chance in the world this could truly play out.

"Wow, that really is odd though," Tonks spoke aloud. All of them were just as excited to hear about Harry's wand as him, but Tonks couldn't stop herself pointing out, "Ollivander's never gotten a wand wrong before on his first try, wonder what you did to stump him."

Harry wanted to get embarrassed again in confusion of once again why something just had to be so different about them, but this time he didn't care the reason so long as he got a wand in the end and Ollivander didn't instead say something more like Harry just couldn't have one.

Dumbledore began humming slightly under his breath in triumph, finally, the moment of truth!

Now if anyone was watching, no one could have mistaken the gleam of happiness residing in Dumbledore, but no one did see it, they were all too busy congratulating Harry that he'd found his wand of choice!

"Why's that curious?" Harry sighed, not really wanting to know at this point, wishing he could just have one moment of happiness.

"I've honestly got no clue," Ron shrugged, "didn't sound any more than any other wand."

Dumbledore had to work hard to suppress a chuckle of amusement at that fact. He'd had no idea that day Ollivander had come to him seeking the feathers of his bird what it would lead to.

Harry's wild gasp of surprise went unheard in the soft mutters of surprise that broke out around the room. Most of the adults didn't seem clear on how to react to this news, Harry's focus in particular being on Remus and Sirius who just looked too stunned to make any other face. His attention was derailed by Ron though, who blurted, "that's bloody amazing! What do you think that means that's happened Dad!" He quickly turned to him for some sort of answer.

Arthur was just as stumped as anyone though, but he did try to muster up a smile for Harry to try and calm him, "honestly, I've no clue, but I don't see why you should be too worried about it. It's certainly ah, well unexpected, but it means nothing of your own. Sharing the core of the same animal doesn't really mean anything except in extremely rare cases, which I am positive you'll never run across."

Harry and the others his age were still intrigued and wanted to ask for more, but Arthur wanted to move on more and as he had the book, he was winning.

Remus and Sirius finally forced themselves to overcome their blank wall of shock at the news and focus more on the fact that now they knew there was something they needed to talk to about later with Harry, and that was that they didn't care about this information one bit. Not this, not the fact that he was a parselmouth, not anything. He was still Lily and James' son, and though they'd failed at it so far in his life, both equally knew they couldn't stand to let that keep going now that they knew he had no one better in his life. Both felt they weren't going to do much good as they were the short hand, but no way were they going to stay back any longer and let Harry have no influence telling him these things shouldn't go down on him.

Hermione nodded numbly, her mind the most easily picturing from the Muggle perspective how odd this sight would be, then surprised at herself she was already considering others Muggles.

Arthur sighed unhappily, this had been exactly what he'd been afraid of with Harry getting overwhelmed and no one stepping in to help him, but then to his great relief Charlie scoffed deeply and told Harry, "they can all bugger off as far as I'm concerned. You're eleven, they shouldn't be expecting anything from you period no matter your name and fame." Not that Charlie couldn't deny he would have been thinking the same thing as all these other nameless, faceless wizards before he'd met the Boy Who Lived, but now that he had, he saw him as just a defenseless little kid, one who honestly needed a big brother, which Charlie was more than happy to share.

Harry looked at him in surprise, and gratitude as he gave him a happy smile for that.

Harry continued to smile all the more at that, Hagrid really was having the effect of making him feel better as well and he hadn't even met him yet.

Sirius and Remus noticed, but this time they couldn't even feel that put out anyone was making Harry feel better as clearly they weren't up to the job yet no matter how much they wanted to try. First they had to get up the gall just to speak to the boy on any kind of regular basis.

"Can't believe he's still being sent back there," Tonks muttered mutinously.

"And there's no point asking if he reported all that he saw to Dumbledore and someone gets him out," Charlie agreed, not bothering to keep his voice down one bit. "Dumbledore's made that clear he doesn't  _ think  _ that's happening." He felt the need to put special emphasis on the word think, to make it very clear to Harry that wasn't going to stop them from changing it otherwise.

Harry just frowned in confusion at him, still having no clear idea what that was implying though, were they trying to get him sent to an orphanage rather than the Dursleys? He'd heard some truly terrible things about those places, and couldn't imagine them being better than where he was now.

"So basically, walk in the door and send him an owl," Hermione grumbled.

"How did he manage that!" Ron yelped, "he can't apparate without a proper wand."

"That portkey that took him there," Dumbledore reminded.

Arthur showed that he was done with the chapter, before smiling down at his youngest son and asking, "would you like to read next?"

Ron happily snagged the book and wanted nothing more.

  
  



	8. PLATFORM NINE AND THREE QUARTERS

Ron cheered as he took the book with a broad smile in place and read out the chapter title. He couldn't wait until Harry got to Hogwarts, got to hear about this fantastic castle his brothers always tried to stay secretive about so that Ron could experience it for himself or some tosh!

Harry and Hermione just looked at him quizzically, thinking this was some other odd magical thing they weren't understanding when Harry got to school.

"What, why?" Remus demanded, too loudly after the fact.

Harry flinched and startled at the volume, but really, as he admitted aloud, "err, I don't know, I can't imagine it'll have improved much. If they hated me before when they were afraid of my magic, I guess they wouldn't like me now when I knew about it."

Remus blanched for a few different reasons, number one of which was Harry just so easily admitting the Dursleys' hatred of him. How could it be right for a kid to say that? The others he tried to make himself let go of, knowing the only way to fix those was practice.

"Least he'll never be hitting you again," Charlie muttered bitterly.

"There's some good news," Tonks sneered, still caught on the fact that Harry called that cupboard his!

"That can only be an improvement," Hermione said tartly.

Harry thought back on the book, and realized why that wouldn't exactly be fun. His life at the Dursleys was almost a coin toss between being the center of their wrath or them ignoring his existence. Apparently if you leave that coin on one side for too long, yeah, Harry could see how that extending could start to feel just as bad as being yelled at.

Sirius was twitching fiercely, still fighting down the impulse to go comfort Harry and promise he'd never be ignored like that again, and rip off the Dursleys head in the process.

"Ooh, that's a beautiful name," Hermione grinned.

'Like the patron saint of orphans,' Neville thought privately to himself, wondering if Harry even realized he'd done so.

"It's no wonder you wear glasses then," Ron chuckled, "how often do you sit around reading?"

Harry shrugged for an answer. Not too often honestly, very little light got into his cupboard for him to try, but he'd certainly try to immerse himself in his wizard studies. In younger years the Dursleys had never allowed him a book to his name though.

Remus though, looking to make up for his earlier outburst, happily told Harry, "well it's possibly more genetics than anything you've done. James had to wear them as well."

Harry's eyes instantly flipped back to Remus with surprise and longing for more, but didn't interrupt Ron as he kept going.

"Ew," Hermione crinkled up her nose, her desire for an owl suddenly failing her.

"Cat's will do that too," Tonks shrugged, "so unless you want a toad or no pet at all, you'd best just learn to keep a waste bin nearby."

Before he'd even stopped to consider it, Sirius had blurted out, "I remember doing that."

He looked just as surprised as anyone at saying that, and ran his hand uneasily through his air as he waited for something that didn't happen. He wasn't sure what, someone in here to start strangling him again or for that deadly cold to creep over him at having poked at a memory; waiting for it to be snatched away all over again.

Nothing of the sort did, the opposite as Sirius felt a warm flush rush him at catching a small smile on Harry's face before Ron kept going.

"Left it kind of late there," Arthur couldn't help but worry, still wishing beyond measure Dumbledore would have had the sense to send someone to help Harry with this.

Harry merely shrugged though, saying, "don't want to give him the chance to debate it and change his mind. Plus, either he would or wouldn't, so asking anytime before wouldn't have changed it."

All of the kids burst out laughing at that, Tonks happily saying in between chuckles, "hope that never gets old."

Hermione's eyes narrowed viciously.

Arthur couldn't stop tutting to himself, several things he'd like to say being restrained.

Tonks was shaking her head sharply from side to side, now wanting to put a babbling curse on this pompous whale just to spite him.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Charlie snapped.

"Good," Tonks nodded seriously, "because he's not here to hear it."

Harry looked hopefully around the room now, clearly hoping someone would volunteer the information, as Dumbledore did indeed do. "The exact location has been hidden from all those who do not attend, and for now all you need to be aware of is its resting place in the Scottish Highlands."

Harry, and Hermione, looked like they wanted to question that a lot more, but it was answer enough for now.

"That's all you know," Remus grumbled to himself, itching to shove it in his face just how little that was.

Sirius had been having so many returning feelings lately, that it finally occurred to him, shouldn't he have one about that? Something old he was sure, some recurring thing he knew he should have said...but his mind was still too cold to think it.

"Well hallelujah, thank Merlin for convenience," Tonks snapped bitterly.

"If such happenstance had not occurred," Dumbledore calmly rebuked, "then Hagrid would have seen to it Harry still came to school."

Harry felt relieved enough, but the others gave him looks of disbelief that he was still acting like this was a reasonable answer, when it shouldn't have come to that at all.

"A lost cause it seems," Ron grumbled.

"Honestly I don't know why they'd bother," Charlie sneered, "it really only improves him."

Ron couldn't help a little bit of laughter, his parents never bothered with such things.

Remus was thinking similarly, he'd take the odd looks Harry would receive just to keep him out of the type of clothes he'd been in yesterday. At least today he was wearing more normal attire.

"Which I'm sure you've done fifty times over by now," Arthur smiled.

'All by himself most likely,' Neville thought sadly to himself. Even his Gran with her strict no nonsense, she would only help those who help themselves attitude, would have at least been kind enough to put a feather charm on his, if ever he'd been so lucky enough to be going as well.

'More like had to bribe him,' Harry thought to himself.

Harry couldn't deny how surprised he was by that though, finding this simple gesture possibly the nicest thing his Uncle had ever done for him.

Charlie was muttering a couple of nasty things under his breath, who would laugh at a kid like this?

Harry felt his heart do a nasty thump in surprise as he heard that news, looking around wildly for someone else to suddenly tell him he was going crazy, but then he spotted the Weasley's who all looked mildly amused now. Harry had no idea what to make of the expression, but as it was similar to the one they'd been wearing when Harry had first found the Leaky Cauldron, he just had to assume for now he was in the right place and missing something...hopefully.

"Oh so that's how she got him to sit in the car with you," Hermione said nastily, "by convincing him they were just going to up and abandon Harry somewhere!"

"Least he's in the right place," Remus moaned, knowing these walls wouldn't be holding him much longer if he really had to hear they'd dumped Harry at the wrong place for who knew how long before Hagrid did collect him to take him to school.

Hermione did not look appeased, though curious as she had no idea what was going on, but no one really looked happy either at another action of these Dursleys. At least they should be gone for a nice long while and they wouldn't have to hear about them again for the rest of this book.

"Why couldn't Hagrid have just told you this part," Tonks groaned for the poor kid.

"Guess it didn't occur to him," Charlie sighed in defense of his friend.

Arthur though, couldn't help but smile in relief as he soothed his kids, and everyone, "well Harry just said it, err thought it, err will think it...whatever. This won't be a problem long. I know he'll come across some wizard family coming through the station, he'll be smart enough to either ask or figure it out from there." He finished with a kind smile down at Harry, who was blinking in surprise up at Mr. Weasley more for his tone while speaking of Harry than anything.

"Oh this could get fun though," Remus muttered to himself, always having a personal laugh whenever a muggle and one of his friends were in the same vicinity for long. Harry was most likely going to resemble his father in this situation unintentionally.

Sirius was muttering a couple of annoyances under his breath. If ever he'd pictured the moment of Harry's first train ride, it would have been with James giving him all the best advice while Lily tried to counter every bit of it, not that farce of a joke where the poor boy was like a lost puppy.

"That's probably a good thing," Arthur shook his head, "don't want you heading to Norway now."

"He could have been a little kinder," Tonks sniffed, "he was clearly a lost kid."

"Like my dad said," Charlie sighed with unease, "it's probably for the best even if it is wrong."

Harry could see that everyone was starting to get as jittery as him now, which was not a comfort. Finally curiosity won out over embarrassment and he softly whispered towards Ron, "am I doing something wrong?"

"Wha- oh, no." Ron said quickly, just as quietly back, but as he was reading it was fairly noticeable so he kept himself as brief as possible, "there's always stragglers onto the train, my family's late almost every year. I'm sure you can follow them."

Harry still wanted to ask where he'd be following them to, but at least he was now assured it wasn't his fault.

Now all of the adults were glaring daggers at Dumbledore, waiting for him to remind them again just what exactly was safe about Harry being like this. What if the Malfoys or any other Death Eater's with kids had happened upon Harry like this? He however was still watching the book with open eyes and a small smile, waiting patiently for this to continue.

"That could work," Tonks chuckled, "your wand would pass through and you'd figure it right out."

"It's still not recommended," Remus shook his head, "he could get in trouble with the Statue of Secrecy before he even got to school."

Harry was starting to blanch in shock as he had no idea what Remus meant, but it sounded bad. Sirius noticed and now had to fight back the urge to smack Remus for scaring him like that, but Ron was already going past their squabbling.

Causing everyone to relax back now. Harry could surely figure it out from there.

"Oh," Arthur brightened with a small chuckle. "Well at least now I know Harry's going to be fine."

"Why's that?" Hermione asked politely, eyeing all the boys with flaming red hair now and piecing it together, but always wanting to confirm she was right.

"I could be wrong of course," Arthur shrugged, "but I do believe that's my wife and kids."

"Might explain why we're in here," Charlie smiled to himself, "if Harry follows Ron in, yeah I can see where this is going."

Ron smiled in hope that was true and this was when he met his new friend, but it didn't quite hide how disappointed he was that his dad wouldn't come for his first train ride.

"Eavesdropping already," Remus muttered to himself, "at least I know someone who would be proud."

Sirius' face did a little twitch. The motion failed before it could fully take, but this time he was sure he'd almost smiled at the comment. After going so many years with the feeling not even being a notion, it was odd that something so minor Remus would say could cause that in him again.

"What? You mean she doesn't know either," Hermione asked a bit panicky, still wondering herself how she'd gotten on.

"Oh no," Arthur quickly soothed, "she makes sure to ask all of our kids that every year, in case they get separated so that they can ask someone where to go."

Charlie couldn't help a small smile, Ginny had been asking that every year since she could speak, and none of their other siblings had been much better.

"Ugh," Charlie groaned, "this is getting painful with all this buildup."

Arthur was laughing quietly to himself. Of course he and his wife could tell the twins apart, but they always enjoyed indulging their age-old gag of convincing themselves they were the only ones who really knew.

Ron let the book droop slightly as he eyed first his hand, then rubbed absently at his nose.

Harry quickly tried to apologize, already wanting to kick himself that he'd gone and offended someone and now Ron was probably never going to speak to him again, but Ron quickly waved him off with a smile and said, "nah, don't worry about it. You describe yourself as a scrawny, speckled git, so mine's not even that bad."

Harry relaxed back and laughed along now, which only increased a bit when Hermione rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

"Well it's not supposed to look otherwise," Tonks chuckled.

Harry's face did pail at that as he wondered if only magical people were really allowed through, and what if so far everything had been a fluke and he really couldn't get in? He braced himself, expecting at any moment for Ron and everyone to realize that he'd just crash into it and probably vanish from here.

Harry's face was now awash with wonder! Less than a day ago he'd been begging the universe just to give him a small glimpse of his parents, now he was traveling into a whole other world!

Neville was listening just as eagerly as Harry, trying to take in everything he could as he still knew he'd never be so lucky to see all this in person.

Neville spluttered in shock and looked up and around in surprise, sure he'd heard wrong.

"It's alright Neville," Hermione quickly offered comfort for not the real reason. "I'm sure you'll find your toad."

Neville gave her the widest smile he'd possibly ever given anyone in pure excitement. If he got a toad, and he was on the platform, that meant he was going! He really was at least magical enough to go to Hogwarts!

"Probably Fred and George's friend," Charlie muttered to himself.

Ron shuddered and leaned in closer to his dad for a moment, considering passing off the book if this guy's new pet somehow escaped.

Sirius wriggled in place in displeasure, like he was fighting down the urge to at least put a temporary feather charm on his luggage even if he didn't have his wand on him now.

Arthur beamed with pride for his boys, immensely happy they'd more than likely gone from helping Ron to turning around and seeing this and helping out more.

Harry groaned in embarrassment, patting his hair back down to try and block the mark now. He was grateful of course for the help, but decided he'd rather have his foot smashed again than have to suffer through another moment like that pub had done to him, now with even more people if the twins started shouting his name.

"Well they're certainly articulate," Tonks snorted.

Arthur couldn't help but smile in relief at his wife's timing, Harry needed an out of that situation and Molly was always good about sensing things like that, especially when her kids were involved.

Tonks started snickering, though she was the only one who did as most of the others were fighting the impulse for telling Harry off for snooping. Really though, none of them could do it, as they realized this was the first time Harry was seeing a proper family interact.

Charlie gave his brother a sympathetic smile, saying, "you know Mum doesn't know better about doing that to us, remember my first year? She tried to get me to blow my nose on that same kerchief so I wouldn't meet someone with bogies."

Ron's embarrassment was gone at once, laughing in relief and smiling at his brother.

Harry and Neville gave small, sad little smiles as they could only picture a mother doing this for them.

"Oh," Arthur perked up at the news, now wishing his son were here so he could congratulate him in person. "Just like you two boys, eh Charlie? I hope he knows how proud we are."

"I'm sure he does Arthur," Dumbledore smiled at the brimming father.

Everyone was in here laughing at the twins antics, the redheads in particular all too easily picturing this interaction to come.

Remus and Sirius were actually surprised when they realized they were laughing along, but the moment Sirius realized it he cut himself off and tried to ignore that happy bubbling warmth at hearing any joke again, let alone laughing along with Lupin. No sense in receiving something the dementors would just eat away again, no he just wouldn't let himself feel it at all.

Ron couldn't help a little frown as he looked away from his dad. His parents had promised him he'd get new robes for his first year at least before he had to resort to hand me downs the rest of his years, but now Percy got them because he'd gone and done something special like Ron probably never could.

Charlie and Tonks started laughing all over again, knowing Mrs. Weasley was going to regret having actually given the twins an idea. They'd only been in school for two years now and had already made it their top priority to blow up something once a year.

Arthur couldn't help but admit, "Well it is a little funny," but he'd always tried to hide his laughter at his boy's antics around his wife as he knew she didn't outright approve of their mayhem.

Charlie sighed as he realized already his kid brother was going to outgrow him as well. As if Percy already having done so wasn't bad enough.

"I'm sure they couldn't anyways," Tonks soothed the still blushing lad. "No one was looking around at the compartments to see some random kid looking out."

Harry blinked in surprise at her, at all of them still not being mad at him watching something like this.

Remus felt warming affection sweep him at this and he'd never even met Arthur's wife, though he certainly wanted to know just to shake her hand and say thank you, finally someone who understood that.

"No thanks to those Muggles," Sirius grumbled, mostly to himself, forcing his bad mood to stay even when he'd felt the same rush of feelings for the stranger he'd soon be forgetting like everyone else in here again.

Harry caught Ron glancing at him curiously. Even already knowing the answer, it was clear he was still curious about it.

"No," Harry answered the unspoken question for all, "not a thing."

"I think that's a good thing," Hermione gave a shiver. "I don't want to imagine what that monster could look like."

'Nothing pleasant,' Remus thought to himself, hoping these kids would never have to find out.

"Can't stop him now," Tonks couldn't help but try to laugh off the tension building in here.

Charlie sighed in sympathy for her, he couldn't imagine how frustrating that must be for her to see that year after year since she'd been born, and he was sorry by the time she could go he wouldn't be with her, but at least she only had one more year until it was her turn.

"Best present they could offer," Tonks laughed outright and was more than pleased when she looked around and everyone joined in again, even to her surprise Black, though he quickly tried to pretend otherwise.

"It most certainly is," Ron vowed, even never having known that to be true.

Ron blushed scarlet and rubbed absently at his nose as if it were still there.

Ron shivered and leaned in close to his dad at the thought, who placed a comforting arm around him and soothed, "he told you that so you wouldn't go looking for them later and get surprised. He wasn't winding you up."

Ron nodded and quickly tried to pretend like nothing had happened, already embarrassed for his constant fear in front of those his age.

"Well at this point you'd think he'd correct them if he wasn't," Hermione pointed out.

Ron glared at her but couldn't think of anything to shoot back right away.

Harry couldn't help but flatten his bangs down again, he'd yet to show that off in here and he still wasn't looking forward to anyone gaping at it.

Arthur sighed, wishing his youngest son had heeded his mother a bit more, but Harry didn't seem uncomfortable at the topic at hand now that Ron wasn't just gaping, but engaging, so didn't say anything.

"How come?" Neville asked in surprise.

"Because he never comes around," Ron shrugged, "I just know he exists because Mum once sent him something but he returned it."

"Squib," Charlie mouthed for Tonks benefit, who nodded in understanding. She'd heard things about squibs born to wizard families who felt so neglected, whether the family had done it on purpose or not, they'd pulled themselves away from everyone and made a Muggle life.

Ron and Neville gave a sad little laugh, but didn't bother to correct Harry as the book was obviously fixing to do so.

"Something like," Charlie muttered, wishing Harry had used a better example than comparing them to that family, but knowing the boy didn't mean anything by it.

Ron winced, now hating his own question now that he already had the answer.

Arthur and Charlie looked at Ron in surprise, wondering why that would be any kind of bad.

Ron didn't meet their eyes, now feeling almost shameful of all the times he'd felt looked over all throughout his childhood in light of what one of his brothers had done, and clearly it was going to keep happening if Percy's soon to be Prefect status was anything to go by. He didn't regret telling Harry this exactly, but he wouldn't want his dad and brother to hear it, especially like this.

Charlie's confusion doubled at his achievements managing to irk Ron, when he'd ogled his badge all last summer when he'd gotten it, asking if he could try it on whenever he could. Charlie had thought his brother had been proud of him, what had changed?

"Oh," Charlie and Arthur let out a huff of surprise as they understood, though Charlie quickly recovered and scrambled to convince Ron, "oh come on Ronnie, you know that's not true. Mum and Dad, all of us, will be just as proud and happy to hear you've done something. You did it, not that we did it a second time."

Ron looked surprised at his brother, he hadn't shared those thoughts with anyone though they'd been floating in his head all summer the closer time approached to him getting his first letter.

Arthur gave his son's shoulder a friendly squeeze as he assured, "I promise, you'll always get acknowledgments for what you do, not expectations for what your brothers have done."

Ron beamed and threw his arms around his dad in thanks.

Harry watched all of this in honest fascination, barely comprehending what it must look like for a father to be reassuring his child of anything. The closest he'd ever seen was Vernon threatening someone else whenever Dudley wanted something, he'd never seen gentle words exchanged like that.

Charlie spluttered in surprise, yanking his wand out and glancing down at it in concern, but before anyone could ask his face smoothed out and he showed, "oh I see, I probably had to get a new one if I was lucky enough to walk out of school with a job like I'm hoping. The hair sticking out isn't in uniform working with live animals."

Despite the promise his dad had just given him, Ron couldn't help his shoulders sagging a bit at the news. What every young wizard looked forward to the most was their own wand, and Ron wouldn't even get that. He'd have to settle for something else of his brothers rather than getting the magical experience of a wand choosing him.

Though at that news, Ron couldn't help but light up with attention. He liked nicking Scabbers from Percy and taking him up to his room, or rescuing him from Fred and George whenever they tried to do some odd experiment to him that they wouldn't explain. Ron had always thought of himself as the protector of that family pet, both from boredom and whatever else his brothers would put him through, so it was fantastic to hear Percy had given him up at least!

Remus and Sirius could not manage to bolster up any enthusiasm at the idea, on the contrary. The pure irony that Harry's friend owned a pet rat felt like a disgusting smack to his heritage he had no idea about, but it was such a twisted reminder neither had any intentions of mentioning it.

Arthur flushed red on the back of his neck as well as his two children at having that admission spoke aloud, but no one was going to say anything to them about such a bad draw of luck in life, and since Ron had the book in hand he wasn't going to wait for anyone to say anything about it.

Even now Ron gave Harry such a grateful look for sympathizing like that rather than ridiculing like he'd expected.

Ron, like everyone before him, had only got the first few letters out before he realized what he, and by extension Harry, had been fixing to say and quickly stuttered off into stating You-Know-Who. Harry continued to be fascinated why they all did this, but when he again looked at the only three people who didn't seem to react to the name and they said nothing about it, he let it go.

"Guess Hagrid didn't press that enough," Neville shivered.

"But now I know," Harry said quickly and soothingly, clearly talking of this was upsetting both boys.

While they looked relieved, Remus and Sirius were honestly disappointed to hear that Harry may be trying to cut that out. They'd honestly been rather proud that James' son showed no fear of something like that, but this didn't seem like something they should try to force Harry to do either.

"Pish posh," Tonks scolded at once. "It's already said you were looking through your books, so long as you don't flat out refuse to pay attention in every lesson and at least try to keep up with your homework, you'll get along fine."

"Everyone starts out on the same level," Dumbledore agreed. "It's those who study diligently that rise to the top."

Harry looked surprised, but genuinely pleased being from a Muggle family wouldn't start him off so bad. Hermione looked like she was about to wet herself to prove otherwise.

"Probably a common occurrence," Remus muttered bitterly to himself, and then had to try to hide a pleased smile when Sirius nodded absently beside him. Whether he'd done it consciously or not he wasn't sure, and he wasn't going to ask him.

"What's that?" Ron asked at once, trying to wrap his mind around how a Muggle could go about trying to eat a planet, or did they know how to get sweets from other planets?

"It's a Muggle sweet," Harry said at once with a wide grin, "our schools pass out candies sometimes on Halloween, and I eat those first before Dudley can take my share away."

It was a combination of both the reminder of that date and any mention of a Dursley that put a damper on the rest of them, though Harry hardly noticed as he recalled even a slightly happy feeling of childish delight.

"You've never had a Cauldron Cake!" Ron gasped wildly, very sure he'd read that wrong.

"We'll have to swap sweets as soon as we can," Harry chuckled, quickly adding on for Hermione and Neville, "I'm sure there's loads of candies we can split between the four of us," causing brilliant smiles from all the children.

Arthur winced in sympathy for both his wife and child, even taking a moment himself to recollect which of his children prefers that and having to take several seconds to remember it was George. He could only imagine Molly hastily handing out the unmarked ones and accidentally swapping them.

Harry flushed at such an admission, but still grateful for no one having pestered him about his own shortcomings so far, Ron had no intentions of stopping and letting Harry sulk in that, because he did have a friend now.

Harry gaped in awe that he was staring at someone who had a candy card! He'd only ever heard of very famous people getting that honor, and he'd never been in the room with one before!

Dumbledore gave a small little sigh to himself, he never liked to be reminded of that 'accomplishment.'

"Well did you expect him to sit there the whole time?" Neville laughed in surprise.

"Muggle pictures don't move at all," Hermione explained, her face as shocked as Harry's.

Ron and Neville exchanged a confused look, sure that the pictures must get bored not being able to move around, but didn't press for more.

Arthur laughed in agreement of that one, the few muggle pictures and paintings he'd seen had been a head scratcher for him until he understood better.

"Oh boy," Tonks began laughing at once, "you'd best watch your tongue with that one."

Harry watched her with a bit of unease, wondering what on earth candy could do to him to cause that kind of reaction, but Ron kept going as he was sure he'd warn his new friend as well.

"I absolutely believe him," Charlie smirked, he wouldn't put anything past a candy that had once tasted like gravel to him.

By the end all three boys were giggling at the variety of faces Harry would make at all those flavors.

Now Neville looked as crushed as he'd been described! He hadn't even gotten the toad yet and he already knew he loved getting one of his own, now he'd already lost it before he even got to school!

"Don't worry Neville," Hermione said instantly when she saw Harry and Ron going uneasy and clearly unsure what to say. "I'm sure you'll find him, he must be somewhere on the train."

Neville sniffled slightly but gave her a grateful smile.

"No," Neville instantly corrected Ron, who looked sheepish at his little joke being shown like that. Neville saw that Ron didn't really mean it, so his tone wasn't as sharp as he said, "toads are excellent pets, they're supposedly helpful in keeping the mind sharp, but I just love watching them go from moving on land to swimming in the water."

Ron gave Neville an awkward smile, he didn't really agree but he wasn't going to argue either.

Hermione's eyes nearly brimmed over with excitement at getting to hear a spell for the first time, she really hoped Ron could pull this off.

Hermione flushed in embarrassment, her hand going up to smooth down her hair, then instantly going to cover up her teeth.

"I'm sorry," Harry said instantly, "I know people don't like that kind of stuff pointed out."

She nodded without responding, her hands still covering her mouth.

"Why would you come back?" Tonks couldn't help but ask, trying to laugh at the end to help the girl stress less.

Hermione finally hesitated in answering a question, but eventually the compulsion won out and she lowered her hands to answer, "it's good to double check your work, I'm sure that since I'm helping Neville we would have started at separate ends of the train and met in the middle, so then we'd go through and double check all the compartments to see if he'd slipped in in the meantime."

Tonks smiled, clearly pleased she'd convinced the girl to relax again as by the end of explaining herself Hermione was smiling again and paying no attention to any of her features.

Ron looked just as embarrassed now, realizing not only was he on the spot in front of his new friend and two strangers, but everyone in here as well. Hoping with all his might he'd pulled it off, he read-

Ron slumped in disappointment, trying to keep the book well in his face so he wouldn't have to see anyone around him laughing.

No one really was, Charlie and Tonks were smiling slightly but no one was outright laughing at the poor first year not being able to pull off a spell like that. Admittedly the only reason the two friends were trying not to smile was because Ron should have known better that wasn't a real spell, he should have heard his older brothers saying spells which were one or two words at best, not those long winded rhyming things Muggles would think they were. Not that they were going to laugh at Ron for that though, it was just funny he'd fallen for one of the twins jokes like that.

Ron realized no one was going to start laughing at him, and started to relax back at his dad's side again as he kept going.

Ron's embarrassment still lingered enough he looked ready to fire up at such a know it all girl. She was a muggle born, what would she know? Still, with his dad right there ready to scold him for yelling at her and Hermione only looking politely puzzled at his failure now, Ron forced himself to just keep going for now.

"How?" Neville spluttered in surprise, "we're not allowed to do magic at home."

Hermione struggled for a moment as she knew she'd never break a rule, let alone one like that, so quickly reasoned out, "I must have tried them on the train before you found me."

Ron's voice spiked in disbelief upon hearing that, while Neville and Harry felt their jaws drop at the girl. They'd recognized she was smart, but that was unbelievable.

Hermione looked unphased at her declaration, she knew she'd be doing that now if she had the chance.

"No one has," Neville agreed breathlessly with Harry.

"Am I?" Harry yelped, starting to feel dazed at his name actually being in books.

Sirius twitched again at seeing Harry looking so weary of the world now, and he'd just started to move to get up and go to his side and comfort him when Dumbledore spoke up just that moment faster, stilling him, "calm yourself Harry, I am sure once the shock has worn off you'll fit right into our world."

Harry still looked like he didn't know how to be starstruck at his own name, but nodded all the same and seemed to calm just slightly. Sirius slumped back in disappointment, cursing himself and Dumbledore and whatever else he felt like in that moment, quietly enough that only Remus had a chance of hearing him and he was clearly trying not to react past a small smile at Sirius' protective actions.

Harry looked rather indignant at that, it's not as if he had a choice, but didn't say anything as he now knew Hermione knew that.

"I was," Dumbledore confirmed with a genial smile.

"None of the houses are bad," Tonks muttered, clearly still bitter over that Diagon Alley kid.

Hermione looked stunned, and then crushed at the news.

Ron sighed, not really sure if he meant it yet but correcting himself anyways, "you just surprised me with your whirlwind talking and how much you knew, I'm sure once you get past that and find something interesting to talk about we'll get along."

Hermione, if possible, looked even more affronted as she had been talking about interesting things as far as she was concerned, but Ron was no longer paying attention and still reading.

Arthur looked at his son in surprise, wondering why this could now be a bad thing.

"Oh Ron," Charlie quickly laughed off, "you must know we don't care what house you're in."

"It'll just be weird if I'm not," Ron muttered, considering arguing his point that he would be affronted if he were in any other house.

"Then you'll be the best Slytherin I know," Arthur said as he affectionately ruffled up his son's hair.

Ron couldn't stop a pleased little smile now, suddenly realizing he'd never held his father's sole attention for this long as by now he would have had to go to work or take care of Ginny or any of his brothers for something. In fact, if he did find himself in another house, that would be something his brothers had never done, at least that could be interesting.

Remus and Sirius sighed, there was that confirmation that Harry really was going to be doing that, but they tried to hide their disappointment from the boy.

Ron beamed at Harry next, now knowing he had made a good friend this day.

"Yes!" Charlie whooped, pumping his fist in the air and looking ready to dance around the room in excitement for getting his dream job.

Tonks laughed in pleasure for her friend even as she wrapped her arms around him to restrain him and state, "yes, yes, we're all very excited you get to spend your days with those monsters that can eat you, now breathe Charlie."

Still laughing like a loon, Charlie did his best to smother his excitement and wave his kid brother on.

Arthur smiled in pride for his boys, even if he was sad to hear yet another of his children would now be living so far away. Bill was even now packing for this trip, and had been chattering all summer about how excited he was to be doing this, which means that he must leave right around the time Ron got his letter.

"The what?" Everyone yelped in surprise that time, they'd never heard of anyone doing something so stupid.

Dumbledore pressed his fingers together in deep concentration, wondering of the timing of this, and if perhaps he'd sent Hagrid out at the perfect moment to prevent something terrible happening...

Everyone, even those not afraid of really saying Voldemort's name, shivered in fear at that declaration, no one actually wanted to think of his coming back.

"That's alright Harry, that's normal," Charlie promised with a forced smile over this topic.

Harry grinned over at Ron, knowing he'd get that speech in this time at the next break, Ron was clearly already practicing it in his head in excitement.

Hermione and Neville felt rather sulky at the news, they'd both been hoping they'd come back and join the two in that compartment as clearly they were on the fast track to friends and had been wanting to join in.

"Could have done without more of this kid," Tonks wrinkled her nose in agitation at once.

"Guess he heard your name somehow," Charlie sighed.

"Wouldn't be surprised if the twins were bragging slightly they'd talked to him," Tonks said fairly, "word spread around, I can see this happening accidentally."

"Well that explains everything," Ron snapped at the book while Arthur tensed in disgust at those particular purebloods and the laws and motions they kept constantly trying to pass in opposition to his own.

Even though Harry and Hermione weren't aware why this explained anything, they were getting very involved in this story now and just hoped the answer would come up soon.

Arthur's lip curled up in a sneer of protest, he'd always done his best to provide for his family, but of course nothing he ever did would be good enough to impress a Malfoy even if he cared to try.

Ron suddenly felt like he'd been struck dumb though, weighing himself against this Draco brat and already realizing a Malfoy could be a much better friend to Harry than him in almost every way. They were obviously equal in money anyways. He did his best not to look up at Harry now, so as not to see any indecision on his face.

Ron looked up and around wildly in surprise to see Harry had a steady look on his face now, no traces whatsoever he regretted that, and then the two mates shared a smile, Harry already knowing he'd make that decision again every time.

"Hey!" Remus and Sirius shouted in protest, never before having the urge to strangle a child for saying anything, but that did it!

Harry paled a bit in shock at such a thing, but also couldn't stop himself giving a grateful look at the two for the defense as well.

Harry puffed up now, ready to snap at anyone who said a word against his new and first friend, he'd take that rubbing off any day over being around another bully like Dudley and this Malfoy.

"Tag team them," Charlie offered helpfully, "go after one, overpower, then the other. This puny little Malfoy won't be a problem after that."

"Charlie," his dad tried to scold for encouraging his brother to fight, but it didn't quite erase his own agreeable tone at the advice.

Everyone was leaning forward in their seats with the highest of curiosity now as they wondered what on earth could be going on.

Everyone laughed joyfully at this news, turning to the nearest Weasley and congratulating them on owning such a wonderful pet.

Even Remus and Sirius, who harbored a deep disgust for all things rodent considering who they associated it with, couldn't stop a small twitching smile for the little guy doing something like that. They supposed they could tolerate this one in particular just for this moment.

Ron gasped wildly in shock, fearing that his rat was going to get hurt on the first day already, and all for doing something for Ron!

Causing yet even more laughter, Tonks rubbing at her side and saying, "I wish he'd been brought in here with you guys, I'd love to cuddle the little guy, he sounds like a treat."

"He's at school with Percy," Ron said regretfully.

Arthur muttered something under his breath he meant for no one to hear, he didn't want his children hearing that kind of language from him, but his feelings about how those Malfoy's acted all innocent of all their charges never sat right with him.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said quickly when she saw how outraged Ron was at the charge. "I shouldn't have just assumed it was your fault."

Ron looked nullified instantly and for once didn't argue the point.

"Those two are going to make the best of friends," Neville muttered sarcastically at Harry, who couldn't help but agree it seemed unlikely at this point.

Everyone older than a first year smiled indulgently, of course remembering how nervous they'd been on their first time as well, but the magic of the school helped erase that fear fast enough.

Harry beamed and perked up even more, he couldn't wait to spend more time with Hagrid, and somehow the knowledge that he'd be there for his first trip into the castle made him feel even better.

"Oh no," Neville groaned, some of his happiness leaving him again as he realized he'd never found his toad!

"It's alright Neville," Harry quickly fibbed as he tried to think, "I'm ah, I'm sure they'll find him on the train and send him to you."

"Yeah," he muttered without actually sounding very reassured, now sniffling again.

Sirius felt something deep rushing inside of him, an old forgotten memory the dementors had long since taken away of seeing that castle for the first time and all the happiness that had swelled within him riding that boat and being with his new friends. It almost came back with a bitter taste of one extra person who was in that boat at the time, but even that couldn't erase how shocking it felt for him to feel anything truly good again like that castle did for him.

The four of them couldn't help but share a smile, even if all of them weren't getting along right now, this felt like a great omen to come.

Neville yelped in excitement, suddenly squirming in his seat and having to fight down the impulse to go hug someone who wasn't even here right now!

If possible Neville smiled even wider, he loved the name of his toad!

Neville giggled slightly, his hands trying to tighten around an amphibian that wasn't in his clutches yet.

"Chapter's over," Ron called, and before he could even ask Hermione had reached over and snagged the book away, looking ready to read the rest of it herself if she had to!

HPHPHPHP

Did you ever notice that the first things the twins say is each other's name? Thought that was a funfact.

  
  



	9. THE SORTING HAT

Of all the books Hermione had read in her life, she'd never held one with such reverence as this one. She still had a million and one questions she wanted to ask, and as always was more than happy to get the answers from text rather than the people around her as she eagerly started.

She had no clue what the chapter title could mean, nor did it seem the boys her age for once as they all looked to their elders for answers, but they remained mysteriously silent.

Sirius was surprised when he felt something warm flicker through him as memory of her came back to him. He'd always held McGonagall in the highest regard of all his teachers no matter how many detentions she gave him, at least that hadn't changed.

All four kids were vibrating with nerves in this room as well, though from stress or excitement it varied.

Tonks beamed. Even if McGonagall wasn't her head of house, she'd always been fair.

"Smarten ourselves?" Harry whispered frantically to Neville, but he had no comfort to offer this time, his face just as awash with fear as Harry's at what could be fixing to happen.

"He was," Arthur and Charlie promised at once.

"Then will you please tell us how we are sorted," Ron begged them.

"Not happening little brother," Charlie smirked, "but you're going to love it."

"Oh nothing so bad as all that," Tonks waved away the kids' panicky faces. "I promise it'll be as easy as slipping on a hat," she finished with a smug smile.

Charlie had to resist the urge to reach over and smack her for that, but thought it would be giving away the actual joke.

Hermione, too, was babbling more than reading in her nerves, not pausing nearly as often as usual to take a breath like she should have been.

All of the adults very much wanted to ask Harry what in particular about that had made him so nervous, but Harry was looking so tense and uneasy at this upcoming event no one wanted to pressure him with more bad.

"Doom?" Charlie couldn't help but laugh at the poor kid. "Aren't you the dramatic little one, you're at a school, what doom could be going on?"

"G-ghosts!" Harry spluttered, his mind suddenly flying in a whole new direction, his first thought of who all exactly could come back...

Remus didn't realize he was immediately ruining Harry's train of thought, "yes, the schools are lousy with a lot of them, but they're harmless things. They all died at Hogwarts, yes, but centuries ago and nothing you should be worried about."

Harry nodded his understanding while trying to hide monstrous disappointment, but still the little question was bubbling just at the surface of where his parents had died, and if possibly they had ghosts there?

"It's no wonder they're late to the feast," Arthur shook his head, "of course they're still arguing about Peeves."

"I've heard of him," Ron beamed, "Fred and George mention him a lot, he's some fantastical laugh to have around."

"What have we learned about listening to Fred and George?" Charlie asked his brother.

Some of Ron's enthusiasm immediately faltered as he agreed with Charlie so maybe it wasn't the best idea to go meeting a Poltergeist straight away.

Harry still couldn't help fidgeting with nerves, his sudden enthusiasm for ghosts now passed aside for his worry and longing of perhaps getting his old parents' house. That didn't begin to cover how embarrassing he was sure it would feel to be on display in front of a whole school which sounded like it housed thousands, all waiting for his name to be called, and he'd quickly learned what that would lead to.

"You read too much," Ron told her, having come to this conclusion in the last chapter but this was just too much to pass up.

Hermione flushed and glared at him for a moment, the blistering comment on the tip of her tongue of how else she was supposed to learn, but then Arthur tapped Ron on the head and scolded, "that wasn't nice Ronald, everybody does what they please in their spare time."

Ron apologized and Hermione seemed appeased enough to move on.

Everyone but the four kids got little smiles on their faces for that. Sirius, Harry noticed, most obviously of all. Harry could feel even more tension leaking out of him, thinking that if all of these people were smiling it really mustn't be anything too bad.

"Why on earth would you have to do that?" Charlie asked in surprise.

Dumbledore quickly answered, "it is an old Muggle gag I'm sure Harry's relating to," he inclined his head for a moment at the boy, but continued speaking to all, "but rest assured, it is nothing you can't handle."

The four kids exchanged looks but were now even more intrigued to hear what was happening.

"Sing?" Neville repeated, sure that he'd heard wrong.

Hermione wasn't stopping to acknowledge him, nor did she actually sing, but continued as if in a competition for speed reading.

The three boys exchanged one more look before bursting out laughing with relief. All they had to do was try it on!

Remus leaned over slightly so that Hermione couldn't miss she was being spoken to, "try taking a breath every now and then Hermione, I promise no one's going to take that away from you if you go a bit more slow."

Hermione tinted pink for a moment, but finally acknowledged that in the whirlwind of the text she may be going so fast she could possibly skip an important detail, so did indeed go back to an almost normal tone, which for her was still faster than average, but much clearer.

The boys laughed again, even Tonks and Charlie joined in at the ludicrousy of that. Arthur rolled his eyes indulgently at his twin's antics.

Remus had a faint smile in place as well as he told, "Well thankfully it's not a personality test on the spot. The hat judges your merit much more deeply than just your surface thoughts."

Harry couldn't help but be interested, wanting to ask more questions about all of this, but he wanted to hear about his sorting more in that moment.

"That would be the one for everyone," Arthur laughed.

Tonks didn't try to stop the compulsion to politely applaud for her old house. Charlie really did pinch her to get her to stop no matter how much she swatted him back in protest.

Tonks looked at Charlie expectantly, like she thought he'd do the same as her even though he told her off for it, but he happily ignored her. Tonks pouted, she'd have to get him back later.

"While we already know you have a great imagination," Ron laughed, "I'm willing to bet this time you're not exaggerating."

"Ron," his dad sighed at him, but this time Ron quickly put on an apologetic face without the rest of the scolding so his dad let it go.

"Well this is in alphabetical order," Ron reminded him to keep that downtrodden look off of Harry's face at the reminder. "So not only will you get picked when it's your turn, but err, you'll get picked for a house too."

Dumbledore nodded his agreement at Harry's observation, explaining, "everyone has the potential for all of the houses, it is for the hat to decide which house would suit that person the best. Sometimes it is easy, others not so much."

Hermione's voice pitched into high squeals of delight as she finally got to her own name.

"Yes!" Hermione whooped with joy, the most childish thing most of them had seen her do as she wriggled with pleasure.

While the adults around congratulated her, the boys all exchanged bemused looks. While slightly obnoxious, they did hope that Hermione being in the house they were all hoping for would make her relax a bit.

"Never happened in Hogwarts history," Dumbledore gently smiled at Harry.

Now it was Neville's turn to watch the book extra closely, all his fingers and toes crossed in anticipation. This was so exciting, not only was he actually allowed to go to school, but he was getting to learn months in advance what house he'd be in!

Even Neville's flush of embarrassment at his clumsiness didn't erase his look of excitement.

"Yes!" Neville cheered amongst the general applause from the room as well.

Neville was still brimming with so much happiness he didn't even look embarrassed this time, he might not have even registered what Hermione had said, and she wasn't going to repeat it to embarrass the boy.

Tonks couldn't decide if she was more annoyed the git got his wish, or pleased he really wasn't going to be some slime misrepresenting her house. Either way, fingers now crossed Harry wasn't in Slytherin for the sole reason it would mean they'd hear less of him.

Harry sat back uneasily in his seat, eyeing a nearby pillow that was big enough he could hide under if the need arose with this constant whispering around him. It was almost as bad as the shouting back at the Dursleys.

Harry was pleased with himself for one thing at least, he was only slightly surprised that the hat talked in his ear as well as sang.

Still Harry couldn't help but tense up and be uneasy, as he never really thought those things about himself at all. He wanted more than anything to be in the same house as his parents had been in, but honestly he'd be happy to be in any house at this rate and for the hat to not decide he still didn't belong.

Harry could feel himself shivering with unease, okay maybe he'd lied to himself just a bit before. He really didn't want to end up in the house where so much darkness surrounded it, he was already talked about so much that didn't feel like it would help him avoid attention.

He was so busy worrying his own mind it didn't occur to him to look to anyone else in the room, who all had unflatteringly shocked faces that the sorting hat was actually considering putting Harry Potter in Slytherin! This must be a joke!

Only Sirius looked unconcerned over the matter, outwardly he was still the face of indifference, but even on the inside he knew he wouldn't really care what house his Godson was in. His own little brother had been one, and despite Sirius' years of claim that Regulus had suffered all the more because of it, Sirius knew deep down his brother hadn't really been a bad person until after Sirius had called him so. He'd never do the same to Harry, he didn't want to make the same mistakes twice.

Harry felt himself laughing in relief, not even thinking to be embarrassed this time as the others congratulated him like they had for the first two. Finally this was something he knew he could feel happy for.

In hopes to avoid acknowledging that happen, Harry did look over at Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore now for some kind of hint of what they thought. The last two were beaming with approval along with everyone else, while Sirius let himself crack for just a moment and gave Harry a little smile as well. For the first time in his life, Harry felt himself glow with pride.

Tonks shivered at just the thought of that happening to her, again. She'd had one too many times of stumbling down corridors and somehow always managed to do so as a ghost was passing by, so she more than anyone knew what it felt like to get a full body blast of that icy cold.

Charlie gave his brother a sympathetic smile for that, all the Weasleys knew how it felt for their last name to have them come up last so often, and it was never fun. Aloud though, to bolster him just a bit, Charlie offered, "better than always going first though."

Ron nodded his head in agreement with that at least.

Ron jumped to his feet in excitement, first hugging his dad, then his brother, then running over to Harry and giving him and Neville a high five. All three boys were having so much fun laughing about them being dorm mates and all they were going to do that they had no notice of Hermione watching them testily, waiting for them to stop so she could keep going. She'd just decided she'd keep reading for herself when Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and said, "alright boys, keep yourself settled down for now."

Ron, only looking vaguely sorry, quickly set himself down in between Harry and Neville and pantomimed zipping his lips shut. The couch was large enough that all three boys were still snickering and whispering to each other comfortably while Hermione could keep going.

Arthur and Remus glanced uneasily at Harry, still remembering his almost non existent breakfast, but then an idea sparked and Arthur got to his feet, suggesting, "I'm going to fetch a quick snack before the feast gets described in detail. Anyone else want something."

Both of his children said yes at once, and their surrounding friends were quick to agree. Arthur came back with an assortment of snacks and was pleased when his idea had worked at once, and Harry quickly began nibbling on some food. It was still lighter than a boy his age should have been as was evident by his two friends, but it was something.

Remus would have been much happier with the moment if Sirius had even pretended interest in the food as well, but recognized it was best to work on one problem at a time.

Some of the kids nearly choked on their food. They were all laughing so hard, though none of them were really clear what any of it meant.

Harry dusted at his lip to make sure there was nothing there to hide a smile, clearly laughter had been the right reaction.

Then Harry flushed and quickly began apologizing, but Dumbledore still had the same pleasant smile in place as he assured, "calm yourself Harry, nothing you haven't said yet will gain you any trouble in here, especially pertaining to me."

Harry still looked unsure, as all manners usually said it wasn't polite to ask if anyone was mad, but he supposed trying to insist his sorrys wouldn't help either.

Charlie laughed hardest of all at that, Percy had an excellent way of summarizing both parts of Dumbledore perfectly.

Remus couldn't help narrowing his eyes at the book for that, starting to wonder if Harry even knew what starving meant.

Harry found himself getting rather uneasy though as he began to put down his food, meeting Sirius' eyes for a moment with questions. He hadn't learned the lesson he had last night yet, he didn't want to be sick on his first night at Hogwarts.

Sirius knew there was nothing he could do to make it better for him in the book, but for now he subtly nodded back at the food encouraging Harry to eat. So long as he kept eating light meals frequently rather than one large meal once, the same thing shouldn't happen again here. He'd be doing the same himself, but he had no delusions that it would make his life better when he just wound up back in his cell.

Ron felt his mouth stretching wide with horror, he now knew he'd never want to be a ghost.

Charlie and Tonks certainly weren't, they loved laughing at the little first years reaction to something that was so common.

All three of them except Ron looked plenty surprised, causing the older two to laugh lightly.

Charlie and Tonks groaned in disgust, clearly Charlie winning the Quidditch Cup hadn't helped them beat them out even this year! Curse Snape and his vile favoritism.

"It's impolite to ask how someone died," Hermione agreed at once.

Ron looked disappointed though, he thought it sounded interesting and he loved listening to his older brothers make up stories of all sorts of things about the school like the myths and legends of all the founders and the many ghosts wandering the place. He was really looking forward to him and Harry having their own wild adventures he could brag to his brothers about.

Everyone couldn't help a bit of a laugh for that.

Arthur squawked in surprise and turned quickly to Neville, who looked unconcerned at his own retelling, that wasn't the first or last time his Uncle had tried a stunt like that.

Arthur turned to Dumbledore with an obvious, 'are you hearing this?'

Dumbledore looked saddened for certain, but seemed no more willing to say anything on the matter than Harry's home life. Arthur could feel his frustration growing, Neville's family trying to force magic out of him was no more right than Harry's trying to suppress his magic, was there no one in the Ministry who looked out for these things?

"That could have killed you!" Remus snapped, clearly thinking the same thing as Arthur.

Neville just looked at them in surprise and then exchanged a look at Harry, confused why they were suddenly looking at him in the same way as they did Harry. This was completely normal for him, why were they so upset? If anything Neville found himself looking forward to the experience, it would finally claim him magical enough to come here apparently!

Dumbledore wouldn't deny he was disappointed in Augusta, she should have known better. Dumbledore would accept anyone so long as they were magical, and Neville had clearly shown he was.

While Hermione felt just as bad for Neville as she did for Harry now, she couldn't deny her attention was still mainly focused on the book, she couldn't wait to hear about learning magic!

Hermione nodded seriously as she took that information to heart, already knowing she was going to strive to do just that no matter how difficult.

Remus and Sirius did a double take in surprise, sure they'd heard that wrong.

All eyes turned to Harry with concern, but he merely shrugged, having no clue as he said, "that's never happened before."

"Perhaps you just got a sinus headache," Hermione offered lightly.

No one older than her agreed. Harry's scar had been magically attached to him from the darkest of curses, it didn't seem likely something so mundane would cause it to burn, but though Dumbledore was watching Harry with the keenest of interest, no one pestered for more.

Sirius had his eyes narrowed testily, Dumbledore really hadn't...

"You have got to be joking," Remus demanded, now looking at Dumbeldore like he was waiting for a punchline. "He's a-"

Dumbledore cut him off and stated, "Severus Snape is a member of my staff, and shall be treated with just as much respect as any other. I will not hear a word against this."

Sirius was looking at Dumbledore like he was the one who'd spent several years in Azkaban and lost his mind, he could not be hearing this right! Being in such hot water though, and if Dumbledore was turning Remus down with that kind of venom, Sirius had no delusions he'd be able to properly state any more how ludicrous this idea was. He was reconsidering Harry enrolling in Hogwarts now though, clearly the Headmaster wasn't the only one Harry shouldn't be around if Death Eaters were allowed to teach. Maybe he'd move his Godson to a different country, like France, they didn't seem to have these problems.

"Some things will never change," Charlie agreed, all first years learned that lesson their first week there, Harry was lucky he was getting some forewarning of the most hated teacher there early.

Remus sighed as he was distracted from the teachers to the grounds. The Marauders were a terrible example to follow, and for once Remus was almost glad Harry had no clue of their stories, and in fact hoped Harry kept that advice instead.

Arthur couldn't stop an indulgent smile, he knew his twins considered it their life's mission to cause mayhem in that school, but he'd caught them whispering on more than one occasion they were quite glad they'd never gone far enough in that Hagrid hadn't caught them and sent them right back out. That place was creepy, and even his boys knew when they were outmatched to be going in there.

Charlie chose that moment to yawn while Tonks pretended to dig out her ear, both then looked around absently, their faces clearly showing, did we miss something?

"I can't wait to see who replaces me," Charlie bounced in excitement, "or who the new captain is, or-"

"Okay Charlie," Tonks cut him off before he could go into a full blown speech over the matter. "I'm sure Ron won't live with himself if he doesn't get Harry to attend the games and find out."

Harry laughed again like he thought he should have, but then he realized only he and Ron had. Everyone else was looking at Dumbledore like they only hoped he was kidding.

"Do I want to know?" Remus tried to force more curiosity than outright suspicion into his voice.

Dumbledore remained silent for so long Hermione was sure he wasn't going to answer, but finally just as she'd turned back towards the book he said slowly, carefully choosing every word, "for now at this time, no, I do not believe it is something to concern yourself with."

"That was not encouraging," Arthur scowled, thinking of his four kids there. It's not as if he was really going to say much more though, he supposed it was no more dangerous than the Forest that was also in reach, he just hoped his kids wouldn't try poking around that corridor to find out what it was like as well.

"You would think," Charlie nodded in agreement, "so that they could caution just as much as you sir."

"My warning should be sufficient enough for the Prefect's and Head boy and girl to keep them away as well as any teacher," he said simply.

"Oh yeah, this old thing," Tonks grinned as she'd loved watching the whole school spout a different tune for this. "How come you don't do that more often sir?"

"I have found that, in some cases, less is more," he smiled.

None of the boys bothered trying to hide their amusement at this, it was just like the twins to end as dramatically with as many eyes on them as possible.

"I'll take learning how to Transfigure someone into a badger over Toad Choir being mandatory any day," Tonks smirked.

"To each their own," Dumbledore replied.

"You'll get used to that after the first few days," Charlie smiled. "In fact stick with the twins, and you'll be more used to using those than the actual corridors."

"Let's not have him stick with the twins," Arthur shook his head, thinking one troublesome duo was enough for their mother, no need for Molly to be getting notes about Ron and his new friend going the same way.

Sirius was surprised at the amusement he felt stirring in him. It had been a very long time since he'd thought about Peeves and all he got up to, nice to know some things didn't actually change.

Neville winced, but also decided he'd better get used to that. He was already prone to accidents at home, apparently that was going to carry over into school. Tonks gave him a sympathetic smile, she was often the victim of Peeves as well, he saw her clumsiness as a great target.

Harry was not in any way tired now, and was in fact wiggling around in excitement to hear about this place where his parents had spent so much of their childhood, where he'd soon be able to actually leave the Dursleys place and see this himself! Ron and Neville weren't acting much better, so Harry was even more happy that his excitement wasn't so obvious, he wasn't too sure how it would be taken.

Harry doubted he'd disagree with Ron, but he was still rubbing his stomach absently and really hoping the book wouldn't bring up his indulgence. Sirius hadn't seemed upset at all over finding him like that, but he still wasn't sure how anyone else would react, and it wasn't reassuring the book hadn't mentioned where a bathroom was.

Harry tensed in preparation for the blow to drop.

Then blinked in surprise. He supposed having a strange dream was better than vomiting.

Dumbledore could not stop his brain kicking into high gear, all sorts of speculations and wonders on the details of this alone. Even this very short time period of Harry being at the castle was very much leading him to wonder if his guesses about Harry's scar were true... he took no notice of the youngest Mr. Weasley laughed off the whole thing and told Harry that was indeed a ludicrous dream.

Harry couldn't stop a shiver of his own, thinking he'd rather take the vomit, that dream had just been too weird.

"Chapter's over," Hermione sighed in disappointment, clearly reluctant to hand over the book to anyone.

  
  



	10. THE POTIONS MASTER

Hermione was clearly reluctant to hand over the book to anyone, and though Remus couldn't help but laugh at such a flashback to his own childhood and how much he'd loved every book as well, he still offered, "would you like to get your breath back? Give someone else a turn," while holding out his hand.

Hermione unwillingly passed it over.

Remus read out the chapter title, and for once everyone in here completely understood what that would be referring to, and no one was looking forward to it. Remus instantly regretted his decision and even considered for a moment handing the book back to Hermione he was so agitated having to hear about this guy again, but finally pushed past that and pressed on.

Ron looked like he wasn't sure whether to be affronted or not, that being his only comparison, as there was no doubt in mind what this was all about.

Harry groaned, making sure his hair was lying as flat as it could. He didn't care no one in here was trying to look at it now, he still squirmed with displeasure any time it was mentioned.

"They really should invent a map for that place," Tonks sighed.

"That would ruin the point of exploring," Charlie reminded her.

"Some of us don't want to explore when we're late," she grouched right back, "some of us want to make it to our classrooms without ending up on the wrong side of the castle the first few times."

"Why would you know that?" Arthur laughed in surprise.

"Hermione," all three younger boys said at once, while the girl blushed but didn't deny that she fully believed she'd be running around telling anyone that fact when she learned it.

Despite Harry's nerves of all the attention at that place, he was still listening to these vivid descriptions eagerly. This place sounded like pure magic, so no matter how many doors he had to get through, he couldn't wait to find them all.

While no one in here had ever actually seen this for themselves, no one denied the claim either which means they'd all thought that at least once. Some looked to Dumbledore like they thought he'd answer, but he was merely humming in absent pleasure.

"He's so house biased," Tonks groaned, "once he realized I was a Hufflpuff, he shooed me along."

"All the ghosts are except the Fat Friar," Charlie shrugged.

Despite his anxiety to come when Remus got to the bad part of this chapter, he couldn't stop a little fondness creeping into his tone for this. That Poltergeist had been a wreck their whole school lives, something the Marauders had greatly admired right up till their last year. Then his mind flickered, and he realized how sour he was thinking of this in past tense.

Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to be terrified, or amused at the prospect of this. Judging by those around him, a combination of both.

"Congratulations," Tonks actually began applauding them.

Arthur sighed, feeling the exact opposite, but didn't see the point in scolding his son, yet.

"Are you sure that was an accident?" Charlie grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if the twins had tried to help you along and pointed you there."

"Don't know," Ron shrugged, though he too admitted he wouldn't be surprised.

"Typical of him," Tonks agreed.

"Well lookie there, he's not going to be nearly as annoying as I thought if he's already helping you out," Charlie grinned.

Dumbledore kept the opinion to himself how odd he found it Quirinus was up there at all. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, or perhaps not.

Sirius felt a very old, not exactly kind smile creep across his face at the mention of her. A sudden memory actually returning of all the times he'd changed into Padfoot and barked at that mangy old cat just to scare it. He clung to the way he remembered Prongs laughing when he told him, even if the memory was so old and vague, had Prongs nose been shorter or longer? It was still the first good thing he clearly remembered.

"Those two are creepy how they do that," Charlie sighed in agreement.

"I'm surprised that it never turned into a seventh year, last day of school tradition," Tonks grinned.

"No," Charlie said back instantly, "don't you dare suggest such a thing. I don't like her either, but I don't want her hurt."

Hermione straightened in her seat, prepared to take that challenge and do whatever she had to to fit in.

Neville gave a small smile, he liked astrology and loved to look up at all the stars he could see from his bedroom window.

Neville's interest went up even more, he loved finding all the plants he could around his place and always took them back to his Gran to ask what they were. If she didn't know, she'd actually find him books to figure it out, it was the one thing they always had fun doing together.

"I can't believe he's still there," Arthur sighed, "honestly Dumbledore, isn't there some way you could replace him."

"Considering all the trouble I've had keeping hold of one DA teacher, a replacement for Professor Binns has not been a top priority," Dumbledore said simply. "Also, I have yet to find a way to remove the man from his position even if I could, he came back to teach it after all, it would not be a kindness to his memory to say so otherwise."

"It would be a kindness to our grades if you tried," Tonks grumbled back. "Has anyone ever passed that class? The guy sounds like what a pillow would if it could talk."

Dumbledore did not respond to that.

Harry sat up a little straighter in his seat, remembering how it had been told his mother's wand was so good at Charms. He hadn't been told what his wand would be good for, but he had his fingers crossed in all the hopes that it could possibly be this class or one other.

All of the adults scowled at that. Nobody had ever actually disliked Flitwick before, he was too fun and enthusiastic, but they still wished he'd act better as Harry had enough problems without the teachers adding to it.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Ron laughed, "did you expect all teachers to be the same?"

"In my primary school, we just had one teacher for all our lessons," Harry shrugged back.

Ron looked astounded as he asked, "like, for what?"

"Maths, and reading, and history, and," Harry trailed off with a suggestive shrug.

"You mean you've been to a school already?" This had been mentioned before sure, but the idea hadn't really clicked in Ron's head right until now when the two were being compared.

"Err, you haven't?" Harry returned, just as surprised.

"No," Ron explained, "my mum taught me how to do maths and reading and such, she taught all of us. I thought everyone just learned that stuff at home until you got to Hogwarts."

The two boys clearly could have carried on for ages comparing these things, and Remus looked likely to let them as he was enjoying seeing Harry interacting so much, but Arthur cleared his throat and got the two to fall silent.

Harry straightened up with even more excitement, this had been the other class, the one his dad was good in. He hadn't a hint yet if he was actually good at charms, but hopefully he'd do something in here?

Remus gave a soft chuff of laughter under his breath. James and Sirius had been the top problem in every class, and as regularly as they were kicked out, no one ever seemed to stop them coming back in next class.

"Show off," Charlie laughed.

Harry sank back in his seat in disappointment, deciding he was asking too much by wanting to emulate his parents in this way.

Hermione looked as pleased as could be, unable to put into words how happy she was she'd clearly done something right, not that she wouldn't have tried if given the chance.

"Oh bugger," Tonks pouted, "don't tell me you get some of the same rotten teachers I did, where you had to wonder why they even bothered showing up to class they were so pointless while there."

She was giving Dumbledore some very obvious looks which he didn't really deserve. She knew that curse on the subject wasn't really his fault, nor had he found a way to break it yet, but it didn't make their learning feel better.

"That's encouraging to have near students," Charlie mumbled.

"Oh yeah, that was a pure lie then," Tonks nodded along.

"The details make it," Charlie agreed, "if you can't even give a vague account, there's no way that's true."

Remus looked on at the pair with unabashed amusement, the more time went on, the more they reminded him of his own friends.

"I actually believe that," Tonks nodded along, if the vampire thing was true then that was at least smart.

Dumbledore on the other hand wasn't so sure, and honestly wanted a closer look at that turban when Quirrell began wearing it.

"Though it seems we're all behind Hermione," Neville muttered.

"Certainly not if he was getting advice from the twins," Charlie agreed.

Everyone laughed affectionately at how pleased the boys looked at that accomplishment.

Remus' good mood sank at once, he really hadn't been looking forward to this part.

"Ooh, it is," Tonks shook her head in disgust.

"And it never will," Charlie said with false happiness.

Remus couldn't get that out without a tight wobble in his voice, his mind trying to forcibly rearrange that sentence to what it should have been, Lily sending messages of love and concern in how he was doing in his studies and how many friends he'd made, James demanding to know how many secret passages his son had found.

Everyone had been pretty depressed at the sharp reminder Harry was so alone in the outside world, that they all torqued up with interest for what this could be.

Harry smiled so wide he thought his face would crack. It meant a lot to him that though he probably saw Hagrid every morning and evening at meals and he could have just asked him then, Hagrid had sent him a note. Like he'd somehow know how upset Harry would be at not having received mail like a normal person, so Hagrid had actually gone out of his way to do this for him!

Remus tried very hard not to have an 'I told you so' tone to his voice as he kept going and forcibly not looking at his old headmaster. There was no other explanation other than Snape treating Harry like hell for that sentence to be true.

Sirius did a double take in confusion, sure he'd heard that wrong, but Remus had the same look of disbelief in place until he finished reading out.

"But, why?" Tonks struggled in confusion to even get that out. "I mean, he hates everyone who isn't a Slytherin, but why Harry in particular?"

She looked to Remus, who'd been so vocally adamant about the bad of Snape being there, and so far he'd been fairly reliable as far as she could tell. He didn't seem up to elaborating though, still shooting nasty looks at Dumbledore from time to time while angrily reading out.

"I always wanted to applaud his aesthetics," Charlie sighed, "he hit just the right amount of creep factor."

Sirius was suddenly eleven years old again, hearing Snivilius call out James' last name for the first time with hatred, and Sirius wanted nothing more than to punch that git in his large nose all over again.

Harry flushed in embarrassment, as that's the last thing in the world he'd ever been expected to be called, and it still surprised him.

"Dark, empty tunnels," Tonks emphasized.

Remus scoffed quietly under his breath, thinking back to all the times he'd seen this little slimeball and Slughorn having conversations about how Potions was just the best subject. At least he did it quietly enough Dumbledore didn't notice.

Charlie and Tonks were giggling like mad by the end of this, the impact of Snape's oh so important speech as lost on them now as their first day, all they heard was a big posturing idiot.

While that made at least Tonks laugh harder, Arthur looked either annoyed at the book or Dumbledore for that. Did he really just call those kids idiots straight away, like he was expecting them to fail? What kind of teaching method was that?

Only Hermione flushed for a different reason, sitting up straighter in her chair and clearly begging to prove she wasn't any kind of dunderhead.

The three boys chuckled at getting to see a real life moment of that.

Harry was flushed with embarrassment that he'd been called out when he more than likely hadn't his hand raised, but this was nothing new from his primary school where the teachers loved to pick on him as well, always taking the Dursleys truth that Harry was a troublesome kid who needed to be kept an eye on.

"Wasn't that a potion we did last year?" Charlie's face quickly slipped into a scowl in confusion. "It was some kind of killing draught."

"Can't be though," Tonks was frowning as well, "there's no way he'd ask for a sixth year potion."

"Oh, maybe we were wrong," Charlie looked almost relieved, since as many books as Hermione had pre-read before coming, he doubted she'd run across that.

Sirius made a sharp noise that could only be described as a warning bark, now glaring so fiercely at Dumbledore it was a wonder the man didn't run for cover. Sirius may have cleaned up his appearance slightly, but he still looked every bit the madman ready to kill at a moment's notice, and his attention had just been set.

Dumbledore was feigning no reaction to what he was hearing, but inside he was disappointed. Severus had made it perfectly clear that while he'd do everything in his life to protect Lily's son, he was not happy about having a Potter in his classroom. Dumbledore had brushed aside the concern, and simply told Severus to treat Harry like he would any other student. Clearly that wasn't going to be the case, but what could he do? He was not going to provide Harry special treatment by allowing him out of the class, nor could he really do anything to stop Severus doing whatever he pleased in his own classroom. He supposed he'd just have to let the situation resolve itself.

Remus was just sitting there, alternately staring at Sirius with a touch of concern, like he wanted to say something to comfort him but no words were coming, and gaping at Dumbledore like he really expected the man to say something. Apologize on behalf of his teacher for that horrid crack to the boy about something he had no control over, or at least a promise he wasn't going to let Snape get away with it again, or anything! When clearly nothing was coming, Remus forced himself to go on.

Arthur was at least comforted that it was a first year question. He, like the others, was astounded by this attitude from a teacher, when Harry hadn't done a thing wrong.

"Why's he singling you out?" Ron asked Harry like he thought he'd know.

Harry shrugged hopelessly, clearly upset he'd done something to already having a teacher hate him at this new school. It didn't say anything about any of the other teachers treating him like this, so it couldn't just be the way all teachers at his old school had, it had to be something to do with this Snape guy.

"Why do I get the feeling you want to answer these?" Ron turned his attention to her to take some of his friends for a moment.

She responded by blushing furiously and glaring at him, but putting her nose in the air and not responding.

Remus liked to think of himself as mild-mannered, he was certainly always the one to at least caution restraint before they attempted their next biggest stunt, but even he wouldn't deny in that moment he'd have cursed Snape a good one for that.

"Even if you had, I still get the feeling he wouldn't be impressed," Neville sighed.

.

At least the kids laughed at her obsessiveness, the others were all shaking their heads in disgust. Snape hadn't even taken the hint long before now and moved away from Harry.

Harry's two friends laughed appreciatively, even Charlie and Tonks got out a nice chuckle at seeing the boy put Snape back a bit.

"Are they supposed to read your mind?" Tonks demanded, "he can't snap at them for not doing something he didn't tell them to."

"Of course he can," Charlie grumbled back, "he's been doing it for how many years now, and no one's stopped him," he finished with an obvious look at the headmaster. Harry's may be starting out bad, but Charlie was positive Snape must have more teacher complaints than anyone else on staff, maybe even more than Filch, and yet they'd never seen Snape change once.

'Course he is, bet he and his dad are all sunshine and daisies talking to each other about the Death Eater business,' Sirius thought to himself.

Neville blanched in horror, clearly looking to apologize to someone, but then Ron said airly, "the twins first class, they managed to melt every cauldron in the class! Don't know if it was on purpose or not, but," he finished with a heavy laugh he hadn't managed that, and Neville relaxed.

Arthur sighed in pity as he fought the urge to get up and comfort the boy, who was looking more embarrassed by the moment at his slip up, but he restrained himself not only because he wasn't the boy's father but also because he knew how embarrassing it would be.

"Hey!" Tonks wasn't the only one to cry in outrage, but she was the one to keep going. "Why on earth can he get away with that, Neville's in pain and made a mistake during the first class!?"

Again Dumbledore said nothing, and they were all growing very frustrated and tired of his silence. Even a vague word of rebuke would have meant something at this point.

Sirius had to work furiously with his hands to remind himself that Snape wasn't here now and he couldn't go strangling him. The discolored fingers of his right hand flared painfully to reinforce this.

"I can't imagine a person on earth would think like that," Remus said with pure disgust under his breath. He knew for a one hundred percent fact that he didn't even know Harry's first name, all Snape was doing was speaking to James right then, and even that wasn't true of his friend. James would never let someone get hurt like that to make himself better, unlike what Snape had done in a crowded courtyard to Lily.

Ron shrugged for an apology, telling Harry, "you don't want to hear some of the things I've heard from my brothers about what Snape'll do if you tell him off. George tried once, and he still claims he's traumatized from that detention."

Arthur did a double take in surprise, he'd never heard that! He was furious enough this was being done to Harry, but what was this about his boys?

"That's what you were caught on?" Tonks snorted in surprise. "Not the fact that he was being a-"

"Ms. Tonks, language," Dumbledore finally spoke up, in rebuke of the wrong person! So many people turned flashing eyes on him that it seemed impossible he could be so dense as to not continue saying something against one of his teachers he'd just said in the previous chapter he wouldn't hear a word against. Now they all saw how Snape treated these kids, and still the man wasn't going to do a thing!

Sirius caught Remus' eye for the first time in over ten years, but Sirius quickly looked away again to pile an answer up for himself. His first instinct was to look at Moony, see what he was planning on telling Harry, but the instant he realized he was doing that he forced his brain to realize that he didn't care one bit what Remus was doing about anything, he'd explain this to Harry himself.

Remus was too busy being cheered Sirius had really caught his eye that time to be thinking the same, and was more than happy to put off the conversation to Harry even if he was. He was outraged on his behalf, but he wasn't looking forward to answering whatever questions Harry managed about this and start Harry on more prejudices like Snape clearly was.

Remus forced himself to push whatever lingering tension Snape's presence caused out of himself, he'd just have to talk to Dumbledore about it later in private and hope the man responded better that way. For now he was right back to happily reading about Harry's first time out on the grounds and thought this was a planned meeting with Hagrid it was still reminiscent of their own years.

Arthur wasn't too concerned, thinking Hagrid wouldn't have invited them inside if his dog was actually vicious, but it wasn't a good start that he was restraining him.

Harry and Ron gave a happy laugh at picturing such a thing, neither had much to do with dogs and this was a funny first moment.

Sirius felt an odd pang in his chest as he realized the same, this was Harry's first moment of being around a dog at all, rather than growing up knowing what Padfoot would look like as much as Lily's cat.

Ron still couldn't help but flush a bit. His dad had made him feel better, but it still wasn't always pleasant to be noticed just because of his family.

"I'm sure Hagrid loves them though," Charlie smiled, "his massive jaw the way it is, he probably likes to eat food as cooked as possible."

"I instantly regret never having gone with you to visit Hagrid," Tonks said at once with a laugh. She knew the big guy as the gamekeeper on the grounds like everyone else, but had never gone down there whenever Charlie had just to talk to the guy.

"What was this about Fang meeting that cat?" Tonks asked innocently, "I think it sounds like a good idea."

As if he didn't know, both Remus and Sirius thought at once. Hagrid had to break up James and Snape's fights as often as any teacher, if not more so since the two would often have it out on the grounds away from teachers. They supposed Hagrid was forcing ignorance that Snape wouldn't pass that along to Harry, which was sadly wrong.

"Got that one right," Remus sighed aloud.

Harry's attention instantly went to him as he realized Remus did know the answer to this, but Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and gave such a pointed look, Remus felt like a scolded child and instantly turned back to the book while Harry sighed in disappointment.

He momentarily caught Sirius' eye, who winked at him. Harry forced his face to remain as neutral as possible to not give away the thought that he still may yet get an answer.

Charlie beamed at once, more than flattered Hagrid would think to ask about him.

"Caught on to that did you," Ron smirked.

Everyone blinked in surprise at that, they hadn't realized Ron's passing comment had happened on Harry's birthday! Suddenly everyone was even more grateful Hagrid had been with Harry that day. Even if nothing had happened, it still wasn't sitting right.

And that didn't feel the least bit suspicious! What were the odds the vault had been searched was the vault Hagrid had taken care of on that same day! Admittedly only Sirius didn't think himself paranoid for thinking all this, the others hastily trying to brush it all off as coincidence, except Dumbledore who had his eyes narrowed shrewdly.

"Does Hagrid know who did it!" Tonks yelped in surprise.

"If he does, then Dumbledore does," Charlie agreed, giving his headmaster a sideways look.

Dumbledore gave a soft shoulder shrug, saying, "as of now, I have no knowledge of this. If perhaps Hagrid saw something suspicious that day and reported it to me, I'm sure I would have looked into it, that is most likely his behaviour."

Sirius felt a tick going off in his jaw, already frustrated with the guy who seemed to have an answer for everything that never actually felt like an answer.

"So we're not the only ones thinking it," both boys agreed on either side of Harry.

"All questions I'd love answers to," Tonks pouted as Remus lowered the book and closed it to show he was done with his chapter.

  
  



	11. THE MIDNIGHT DUEL

Remus fidgeted with the book in his hands for a moment, waiting for Sirius to react beside him for some sort of clue, but when that didn't seem forthcoming Remus tried to offer it to him, asking, "Sirius, did you want a turn?"

Sirius' dark gray eyes held Remus' for only a moment, but it was the longest he'd looked at him this whole time, so Remus took that as a win as much as his hands darting out and snatching the book away while he muttered, "guess I might as well, everyone else in here will be at some point."

As he read out the chapter title, his voice still sounded shotty at best from disuse, but Remus couldn't care about that one bit. Getting Sirius to read would be the most he'd talked this whole time, and Remus was now considering trying to convince him to read the rest of the book if he could just keep hearing his voice.

Arthur however turned begrudging eyes on mostly his son, but still at least trying to caution Harry, "and exactly how much of a good idea does that sound like?"

Ron instantly began promising he would not repeat the mistake of being anywhere at midnight, let alone dueling, while Harry uneasily agreed at his side, clear fear flashing off of him at finally realizing he was in fact doing something wrong in here.

Mr. Weasley wasn't exactly shouting though, nor really threatening violence, he looked more exasperated at what he and Ron might be getting up to than anything.

When his dad turned away, looking more like waiting for the ball to drop than actually angry, Ron leaned in to whisper to Harry, "just be glad my mum isn't here, she'd go bonkers on us dueling anywhere."

Harry gave a small return smile, not able to deny he'd still like to meet Ron's mother, or anyone's mother that wasn't Aunt Petunia.

Sirius' hands held the little object awkwardly, his right hand didn't seem able to curl all the way around properly from where his knuckles had swollen, but he managed to start without showing any discomfort.

"I believe you can hate two people in equal measure," Tonks told him wisely, "so just reserve some for both."

"I'm not going to let you keep giving advice to my brother and his friend if you keep that kind of stuff up," Charlie scolded her, though there wasn't one bit of him showing he disagreed.

Sirius had been trying to read in as monotone a way as he could, emotions were still new to him in general and he wasn't much enjoying the audience, but he'd never deny the spike of interest that got him when he heard about this!

Charlie sighed and said a few choice things about this, elaborating when his brother asked, "I'd pay my weight to have been there for Tonks' first flying lesson, I can only imagine how she managed to knock herself out without leaving the ground."

Tonks smacked him a good one for that, though didn't look remotely embarrassed as she stated, "If I hadn't, we might never have become friends." Turning to Ron and asking, "didn't he ever tell you we met in the Hospital Wing that day?" When Ron shook his head and looked on for more, Tonks smirked and explained, "Charlie decided to spend his first flying lesson by trying to show off, and ramming into a tree, broke his collarbone in three places."

"Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a second," Charlie promised at once as his dad's eyes fell on him.

"I was coming around just as he was complaining he wanted to go back down and try again," Tonks laughed. "Instead we were stuck in there the rest of the evening, you know how she is with her paranoia there might be 'complications,'" she overly emphasized the quote, "been hanging around each other whenever we could ever since."

Remus opened, then closed his mouth, fighting back the impulse to tell Harry how ridiculous that was, flying was in his blood. It was almost comical that any child of James wouldn't be as self assured in the air as the father.

Sirius had no such restraints and turned amused eyes on Harry, telling him, "don't be so hard on yourself Harry, I've full confidence it'll come naturally to you."

Harry blushed and stammered a bit, having no idea what to say as that was the first compliment he'd ever been paid even if he didn't think it to be true.

Arthur and Dumbledore watched the pair critically, both growing more confused by the moment at these two interacting with each other, and neither approving.

"Everyone does," Charlie nodded so enthusiastically his head was likely to fall off.

Hermione's face dropped a bit as she saw Ron and Harry grinning and agreeing, yet she had no want at all to learn to fly. She desperately hoped there were books on the matter that she could go through before she had to face this. Then she caught Neville's eye, and saw he he didn't exactly look any more enthused than her, and felt slightly better.

While they all smiled at Ron trying to make his friend feel better, no one actually agreed. Like Arthur's boys, they all knew how to be on a broom before they'd even come to school because of their advantage of not living around Muggles. Malfoy was more than likely the same.

Arthur was just impressed he knew what a helicopter was, he hadn't until late into his Muggle Studies class and he doubted Malfoy cared about such things even before school. Perhaps he'd heard of one from one of his fellow Slytherin muggleborn's dormmates.

"You did what!" Charlie and his dad squawked in alarm.

"Almost!" Ron emphasized, leaning that much more into his seat and avoiding looking at both of them.

"You never told us this," Arthur still spluttered with concern, "what if that Muggle had really seen you, that was dangerous Ron."

He quickly muttered an apology and promised he'd never do it again, promising it had been years ago when he was seven and since nothing bad had happened since then, the two let it go.

"I think soccer sounds like fun," Neville said, he was more than happy to get off the topic of Quidditch, "at least you stay on the ground in that sport."

Ron looked aghast that anyone could think anything was better than Quidditch, and they were all sure they were going to get a reappearance of that argument he'd had with Dean towards Neville, but Arthur cut his boy off before he could get started and Sirius went on with honest disappointment.

Remus felt himself laughing without restraint, something he hadn't done in a long time. That was too much of a reminder of how James and Sirius had been when they'd first met to not be passed up though.

Ron gasped wildly, telling Neville, "it's no wonder you think that other sport's better, you've never had the chance to play Quidditch! You're coming over next summer as well, you've got to try it at least once!" He didn't even think anyone would tell him otherwise, and Arthur just smiled as he knew he wasn't going to.

Neville sighed with acceptance, he didn't know why he'd been hoping that would change at school, but clearly it wasn't happening.

"Don't feel too bad Neville," Tonks encouraged at once, "surely you've noticed I'm the same way, if not worse. I like to think of it as character building."

Neville was surprised when he burst out laughing, but grateful all the same.

Hermione was surprised when she didn't at all relax with this news, great, book learning hadn't helped her with this! That was a first!

"Why can't we be reading that book?" Harry muttered to Ron's agreement.

Hermione looked disappointed, she'd been sure that even if it didn't help her with flying, maybe it would help her be on better terms with at least Ron on a topic he was interested in. Clearly this wasn't the case, and he just found everything she said boring.

Harry flushed with embarrassment, still clinging happily to that feeling he'd had when Hagrid had sent him that note. Of course he wouldn't expect Hagrid to do it regularly, that would just be silly.

"Right, and James was the pompous one," Remus muttered mutinously under his breath so that only Sirius could hear. It was clear he was still sour over that last chapter, and while Sirius agreed, he was still refusing to react even in that way.

"I never saw the use of those," Tonks sighed, "all they do is tell you you've forgotten something, not what you've forgotten."

"Plus, they're so easy to lose," Charlie nodded in agreement. Why make something so small for people who easily forget things?

"Be sure it wasn't your cloak," Arthur couldn't stop himself cautioning, "don't want to get cold out there on those brooms."*

"Dad," Ron groaned to get him to stop even as Neville gave him a happy smile for the concern.

"What a little twat!" Ron instantly snapped.

His father agreed so much he didn't even say anything.

Hermione was surprised when she was the only one who tutted loudly in disapproval. Arthur had a look of almost indulgence, he was proud of his son standing up to that bully. Dumbledore was still twiddling his thumbs and seemed only vaguely interested in what he was hearing, and if Hermione was reading them right, Remus and Sirius looked almost proud! How could she be the only one disapproving here?

"That'll never change," Charlie nodded sadly, he'd been looking forward to hearing his brother give this git a good punch for all that he'd said, and he'd field his dad if he tried to say otherwise.

"This flying practice is just going to go swimmingly," Tonks sighed, wondering if her and Charlie ending up in the hospital wing would be a kindness compared to what they were fixing to hear.

"Yeah," Charlie sighed, "but sadly our Quidditch budget isn't all that high, so we've never been able to afford replacements. All the money tends to get spent on whatever the Bludgers break."

Harry blinked in surprise, wondering if that was some magical ability, or if she'd magicked her appearance to be that way? It felt rude to ask though.

"James never would have stood for it." Sirius hadn't realized he'd spoken that aloud for a moment until he heard an excited squeak from Harry, and looked over to see him beaming so wide with happiness. Now that he did realize it though, Sirius didn't even pretend to stop a return smile as he explained, "oh yes Harry, your father was a Quidditch maniac, Captain for the last two of his years at school and the best damn Chaser you'd ever seen."

"What's a Chaser?" Harry demanded back at once, his eyes swimming with so much happiness staring at Sirius he was sure he was imagining the look.

Sirius seemed more than happy to carry on for hours answering whatever Harry asked, but then Dumbledore cleared his throat and gave Sirius an obvious look, stating, "I am sure this can be carried on over the next meal or some such. Now in the middle of the chapter, it doesn't seem the time."

Harry deflated in disappointment while Sirius gave him a nasty look, did he have to kill the kid's enthusiasm? He considered still telling Harry anyways just in protest, but then he saw Ron lean over and more than likely whispering the answer in his ear, so Sirius remarkably held it in.

The others were looking at Sirius in shock, even Remus was surprised at just how happy the man sounded while reading that when so far he'd hardly shown any emotion at all. While only Remus and Dumbledore really only understood the roots of this, Sirius was clearly proud as could be his little godson had inherited even a portion of James' Quidditch's talent, everyone was giving a smile at Harry for his accomplishment.

Neville sighed, but he didn't look very surprised. Hermione looked almost happy though, she didn't find the sound of these brooms safe at all, and hopefully if it didn't jump into her hand she could stay on the ground. She'd never been fond of heights, for the first time in her life she wasn't even disappointed in herself at not accomplishing this.

"That is a really interesting idea," Charlie's eyes sparked with excitement. "I wonder if anyone's ever done a study on that."

"Well Mister off to Romania, it won't be you," Tonks reminded with a small, sad smile, she knew she was going to miss her friend being so far away and should get in her teasing while she could.

Charlie gave her an exasperated look for the joke but didn't argue the point.

"Then she shouldn't force you to," Arthur shook his head, "Quidditch is optional, I don't understand the mandatory flying lessons."

"Broom safety," Dumbledore explained. "As you know, the children are likely to sneak down to the pitch, and could likely be tempted to get on a broom there. At least while they attend this, they will be prepared for whatever they get up to on their own."

"How would she know that?" Tonks was beaming with pleasure even as she asked Charlie.

"I'm sure she was just wanting them to do the basics of hovering," Charlie happily explained to her and his eagerly listening brother and friends. "I have no doubts Malfoy was trying to show off and did something outlandish and she's scolding him for possibly doing it all the time."

Charlie winced for the poor kid, he'd done the same thing, though for a different reason, and it hadn't ended well for him.

"Oh yes, I'm sure shouting after him will help," Arthur shook his head, though he wasn't denying he'd be pretty stunned too. He had a chore on summer holidays keeping track of what all his kids were doing, he couldn't imagine an even larger class and keeping an eye on all of them at once. He was sure by the time Madam Hooch caught sight of what was going on, Neville had long since gone and done this.

Neville looked pale and in shock of what was going to happen again, whispering for the other two alone to hear, "I don't think I want to try this again."

Harry and Ron exchanged a sympathetic look, Ron trying to cajole Neville it wouldn't be so bad if he had more practice, while Harry curbed him and promised Neville no one cared if he didn't want to do anything with the sport.

"I think we should just have that one burned," Tonks shook her head in pity.

Hermione was shocked no one was really acting all that concerned. Sure they looked upset on Neville's part, but he'd just fallen into a fantastic fear and they were all acting like he'd rolled out of bed!

Remus caught sight of her and explained, "you'll quickly learn that injuries aren't taken too seriously on Hogwarts ground," he paused with a hopeful look at Sirius who was still ignoring him, so he finished a little disgruntled at the end, "the matron of the hospital wing can fix nearly any injury, and the longer you're around magic the more resilient you can become. Long falls for example will hurt, but not as badly if you weren't at Hogwarts."

Hermione looked shocked at the news and would have happily asked for more information if Sirius hadn't kept going.

Arthur sighed, he really wished she'd tried to magically slow his fall or something, but again acknowledged he wasn't there and had no idea how much time she'd had to react.

The three boys did relax at that news, it could have been worse.

Neville went very red face in embarrassment to hear that he'd been crying on top of everything, but then he noticed Ron and Harry didn't seem to think a thing of it and instead asked Dumbledore how long Neville would have to be gone.

"For the night, I suppose," he answered back with a sympathetic smile for Neville. "She likes to hold her patience for several hours to make sure there are no repercussions from their injuries or her magical tendings, but you will be back in classes by morning."

This time no one could have missed Tonks' eyes flashing red in anger if they'd been watching, but they were too angry muttering angrily about this rotten little brat doing something like that. Neville flushed in embarrassment as much as comfort for seeing so many people being angry on his behalf.

Neville spluttered and looked all the more confused at that kind of declaration, but this was such childish teasing Sirius hardly even acknowledged what he was saying, let alone the reactions, as it rolled right off his tongue without registering.

This was not Neville's greatest concern, he was still stuck on that girlfriend comment, so he missed the look on Harry's face.

Sirius sounded even more proud of this than he had speaking about the brooms, glancing up and catching Harry's eye with a smile. Fine, if Dumbledore wouldn't let him tell Harry now, he would be more than happy to share later of the countless times his father had stood up for anyone who deserved it.

"Madam Hooch shouldn't have left us alone," Hermione huffed, "how could she really believe they'd all behave themselves."

"There really was no win here," Arthur shrugged. "She had a duty to escort the injured one, not trust him to a bunch of first years who might not even know where the hospital wing was yet."

No matter how angry he was, Harry was still disappointed as he tried to turn to Neville to apologize that he knew he wasn't going to be of much help.

Neville waved him off before he could even get started, saying, "it's alright Harry, at least you tried, no one's ever done that before, so thanks."

Harry didn't think he'd ever been thanked before either, so he wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Why would we all get into trouble, it's just Harry and Malfoy doing something," Ron snapped at the girl in harsh tones. He was more upset at himself that he hadn't jumped on his broom by now and helped as well.

Hermione puffed up like she was going to snap back all the reasons why this was a horrible idea, but Sirius was still mostly ignoring the kid, and honestly starting to wonder why Hermione was even here.

Sirius knew that whatever force had gotten him out of his cell just to be reading this moment of Harry flying while defending one of his friends, he'd hug them for as long as he could get away with. This right here honestly made this whole ordeal of running into Remus again worth it.

"You're probably on the ground to keep an eye out in case I fall," Harry told Ron when he noticed how annoyed he looked with himself that was all he was doing.

Ron looked appeased with that answer.

"See if he doesn't cry when he falls," Tonks agreed.

"Instinct," Remus chuckled, making Harry suddenly put the connection that not only had Remus known his dad, but Sirius had as well by all these recent Quidditch comments, had the two possibly known each other then? Was that why they were arguing, something to do with his dad? He reflected back on Sirius' odd statement last night and didn't know quite what to make of any of it. He wished he knew more about them, but he was too happy listening to the story to ask for now.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they got on the brooms backwards," Charlie snapped happily.

"Oh boy," Arthur groaned, taking off his glasses to rub at his eyes. He was now confident he was going to have to hear about Harry ramming himself into the ground trying to catch that, which wasn't going to be pleasant to hear.

Sirius hadn't had this many emotions rushing through him in almost ten years, it was kind of scary how pumped he was to hear about Harry while also mingled worry as his mind offered his own rendition of Harry slamming into the ground, all while the outskirts of his mind was warning him any second the dementors would feel this new resurgence of feelings and come swooping in on him to take these away. He was probably reading slower than he normally would have been, as he kept trying to glance around himself to convince his mind they weren't there, which was stupid of course as he always felt them long before he saw them but he couldn't help it.

The others put Sirius' odd twitchy way of reading to his lack of having done so in so long, there couldn't be much reading material in Azkaban.

"Congratulations!" Remus and Sirius were the first to get that out, Sirius not even bothering to glare at Remus for having done the same thing as him!

Harry noticed and gave them a shy smile for the praise all while laughing along with his friends doing the same for him.

Hermione was the one who tartly pointed out before anyone's good mood had gone away, "yes well, there's still the matter of landing  _ not  _ head first."

Everyone stopped and looked at her as they realized this, but she didn't flush with embarrassment until Sirius scowled at her and said, "well you're just a right ray of sunshine." She looked slightly terrified at being addressed so specifically by the haunted looking man, but he clearly wasn't paying her much more mind as he kept going.

Now even Hermione looked nullified, wondering if she was worrying too much since clearly Harry had been just fine in the end.

"Argh!" Charlie groaned in frustration, "that woman has the worst timing!"

"Oh," they all muttered. They'd been expecting Madam Hooch, but this was even worse.

"Never what exactly?" Remus demanded, actually looking insulted to Sirius' surprised amusement. "Never seen someone break a rule on a broom, James on a weekly basis. Never seen someone messing around when the teachers weren't looking, James on a daily basis. Never seen-"

Remus actually stuttered off in surprise when Sirius cracked up laughing. Genuine, shoulder shaking, actual laughter. He was so caught up in watching the sight it took a moment to register what Harry had said.

Then Dumbledore answered for him, "oh yes, your elder Mr. Potter was quite the rule breaker in his day, all in good fun for the most part." He then turned his attention on Sirius, his tone far sharper than Remus thought was called for, "I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself Mr. Black, but perhaps we could keep going."

Sirius acted like he was being sobered up, snapping back to that mask of indifference so that no one could have guessed they'd actually seen a human beneath it a second ago. Even Arthur felt rather put out at the headmaster for that one, what had Black been doing that was so wrong? Albus had said he was innocent of the crime he'd been committed for, but was he still dangerous?

Now he went back to reading in as surly a tone as when he'd started.

"Well that's a fair one," Arthur nodded along.

Sirius looked up and around at Harry in confusion, telling him, "I don't know why she's being so harsh with you, she always at least heard an account of what happened before punishing you."

Harry's look of hurt that he was being punished for sticking up for his friend only lessened slightly with Sirius telling him this was at least a little unusual.

"Maybe she's just getting him away from everyone to have it out in her office," Remus offered to pacify them both. "She's been known to do that to not cause more of a scene."

Sirius paused to give Remus a critical look, before actually nodding his agreement and continuing.

Remus turned his head away for a moment to hide his pleasure that he'd actually gotten a seminormal response from Sirius. Was that all it had taken to at least try to get him around, make him laugh? Well that made sense actually. Sirius had never been big on apologies, accepting or giving, so maybe if he could just convince Sirius it was okay to laugh along for now...well he'd need Dumbledore to stop treating Sirius like a two year old for starters.

"Nah," Tonks scoffed. "Detention, at worse."

"She didn't even give me that when I showed off," Charlie smiled in remembrance, "she seemed to think my injury was punishment enough when she heard."

"So if I had broken a bone, I probably wouldn't even be in trouble," Harry asked, honestly amused and feeling better at once he hadn't already screwed up and was getting kicked out of the best place on earth.

"Exactly," Charlie laughed.

"She'd have just shushed you until you got to her office anyways," Ron said. He hadn't even been in trouble with McGonagall yet and he could guess that part.

Now most of the others felt like they understood Dumbledore's caution when it came to Black, he sounded completely deranged at even the mention of those people, but in a surprise defense none of them could still blame him for thinking it, they all were.

"Not nearly a big enough offense," Remus promised. "It took us caving in one of the classrooms for that to happen to us."

Sirius did indeed start snickering in surprised laughter at those remembered events, which made Remus feel like it was completely worth it when Dumbledore tried to tell him to keep going. In a lower voice so Sirius wouldn't stop, Remus promised, "I'll give you details later."

Harry was smiling and laughing more in just the days he'd been here than he ever had in his life.

"I considered that for a time," Charlie had a smile in place even as he tried to mock glare at Harry. "You make that seem like such a consolation prize."

Harry quickly put his hands up in surrender, saying, "it sounds like fun, honestly, I'd just rather be learning magic and not being expelled."

Charlie pretended to deliberate for a moment before saying, "fair enough."

Charlie's joke instantly deflated as he admitted Harry had that point.

Charlie was instantly caught off guard by that, though he was wondering if he was the only one who was. After all, just because he knew someone with that last name didn't mean...

Sirius' voice came out with a strong promise of violence as he snapped, "and why would that be your first thought?" Which could be the reason for Harry's delay in answering. He hadn't really been afraid of Sirius yet, but that face certainly did it.

Still he managed to stutter out, "ah, teachers at school did it sometimes when I deserved it. Did it to a lot of students."

Sirius seemed to realize he'd scared the kid, and instantly apologized, surprising everyone all the more. Then he kept going before he had to look at everyone looking at him.

Charlie made a very inhuman noise as he began bouncing on the spot and gesticulating wildly.

Tonks watched with honest amusement as she interpreted, "Wood's one of the players on his team, Keeper. Charlie offered to McGonagall last week when she asked his suggestion of who should be captain, and he said him."

Sirius then made a noise all too similar to what Charlie just had, who still hadn't attained normal speech, and flashed back to reading faster than he had before!

This time Sirius didn't even restrain himself as he sagged in his seat, laughing so hard he began listing sideways and leaning against Remus and still didn't seem aware of anything he was being so boisterous. All he could imagine in this moment was James, the look he'd have on his face if he even heard the notion his son was actually being pushed for the Quidditch team in his first year, the youngest to have done so in centuries!

Charlie wasn't acting much better, he didn't even claim to know Harry that well and he was out of his seat, bouncing around with happiness as he ran to Harry to congratulate him, over to Dumbledore and begging him to end that first year rule because of course he'd need a better room, and then circling back before either had a chance to respond.

Harry looked a little confused at these vivid reactions when he wasn't even a hundred percent sure what was going on. He had an idea, but was it really this big a deal? The moment Ron caught sight of that expression, he assured him indeed it was.

Dumbledore finally waived for everyone's attention, chuckling slightly at the happy environment but still keeping on track. "Yes, yes, this is indeed a brilliant accomplishment on Harry's part, and I will be sure to thank Minerva for her actions on this day. For now though, we have more to get through."

"I got it, I got it," Sirius waved him off, keeping his good hand curled protectively around the book now so no one would even dare take it away from him. He seemed to finally realize he was leaning against Remus and only partially upright, and quickly corrected himself by scooting back away.

Remus couldn't even feel that disappointed, baby steps.

Sirius finally felt it in him, that urge he'd held all through his school life to pun his name to death, but as he read that, he realized that was one thing that hadn't come back yet. He honestly doubted it ever would. That had been a joke between him and his friends, and now he didn't have that anymore.

Everyone noticed the sudden flip as his voice went sullen for a few lines, but most of them were just left wondering why.

Only Remus could guess, and he wasn't going to bring it up until Sirius was ready.

"You're welcome by the way," Neville couldn't help but tease, "I did make all of this possible."

Harry and Ron started laughing all over again, while Hermione felt her lips purse with displeasure.

"Hurtful!" Charlie finally yelped a word in English again, but there was no bite to it, he still had a stupid smile plastered across his face, and not just for Harry's good fortune.

He'd had a crush on Oliver since he'd seen the little fourth year on his Quidditch pitch during Keeper tryouts, but he'd never done anything about it because of their age difference. At least now he could be happy Oliver definitely got what he deserved, he had been the best Keeper he'd ever seen, beating out some of the sixth years that had attended that year. He knew he was going to enjoy hearing about him more.

"Sadly not," Ron groaned in answer for his friend even if everyone in here knew it, "but that won't be lasting long when we get out of this place."

Harry gave a toothy grin for that. He didn't care if he and Ron sat in a sewer just to hang out when he got out of here, it would still be better than just being at the Dursleys all the time.

"Argh," Charlie groaned in disgust. He was gone for one year, and this happened!

"Humph," Hermione said loud enough for all to hear.

"What's your problem?" Ron demanded of her, she was the only one who wasn't smiling like everyone else.

"It doesn't seem right," she burst into speech at once, she was so angry it was a surprise she'd even waited this long to get this all out. "He broke the rules, and he's being rewarded for it with this. She never even asked if he wanted to join, just dragged him up there and said this was going to happen, now she's threatening him that if he doesn't do well, then she'll punish him. Exactly how much stock does this school put into these sports."

They all looked astounded at Hermione for a moment, until Harry uneasily latched onto the only part he could, "yes well, I'm sure if I had said I didn't want to, err, McGonagall still wouldn't have punished me because I impressed her, I think."

"Yes but still," she insisted.

"Wouldn't you want to be rewarded like this if you'd done something to be recognized," Arthur gently tried to explain.

"Not if it meant breaking the rules," she huffed.

"As a member of the faculty, I can assure you Miss Granger that punishment is only given when it is deemed appropriate," Dumbledore informed her. "What Mr. Potter did should be encouraged and trained as natural talent, and it is at his Head of Houses discretion what that entails. I am much more remise Mr. Malfoy will most likely not be punished at all for starting the incident, but as that is more outside of Professor McGonagall's range of capabilities, she instead did as she saw fit."

Hermione looked instantly scolded when she realized she had indeed been questioning a teacher.

Sirius was still blasted; this little kid was such a little stickler, and Merlin did he hope she wasn't turning into the next Snivilius. He caught Harry's eye and really hoped his godson stayed away from this one if she was going to keep trying to ruin his fun.

That never hurt any less for James' old friends to realize how little Harry knew about his father, but only managed to spur them on more they needed to correct this.

"There's an accomplishment I've never seen," Charlie snickered, "distracting Ron from his food."

Ron stuck his tongue out at his brother even as he didn't deny it.

Everyone who'd already attended Hogwarts began laughing in surprise at the absurdity of that. Sirius and Remus in particular as they knew how hard it was to keep a secret in that place.

"And my pride for them keeps growing," Sirius mused.

"I'll be sure to let them know," Arthur said, a little uneasily.

Sirius met his eye with an honest grin, and Arthur was surprised how much more human it made him look.

Again Charlie groaned his distaste at that being true.

Sirius' voice continued to grow in amusement, even some pride for his own replacement troublemakers in that school as he considered that a good accomplishment, though not nearly as good as what Harry had done, it was up there.

"Why are they back," Tonks grouched, "nobody asked for them to come back."

"I'm sure the story would just be lousy without them," Charlie sarcastically replied.

Never in his life, everyone except Dumbledore and Harry himself mentally vowed.

Ron let out an appreciative whistle. "First Snape, now Malfoy, you're really not some quiet nice kid are you?"

Harry gave him an innocent enough smile, but he honestly believed that he would grow tired of being bullied at some point in his life. He'd had enough of Dudley on a number of occasions and wasn't always punished for it, here at this school where he seemed punished even less, it was nice to imagine, and even hear about getting to really stretch himself for the first time in his life.

"I am entirely confident that in fact, that is all they can do," Tonks smirked.

"I'm supposing this is going to happen at midnight?" Remus predicted.

"That would be my best guess," Arthur agreed, now feeling bad for his initial reaction of thinking it would be all his kid's fault. Malfoy had really brought this on himself, and he wasn't going to say a word against the boys for enacting in this.

"Ron," Hermione instantly flared up at him. "You just accepted the challenge for him when he might not even know what it is, it wasn't aimed at you."

"It's not like it's hard to figure out," Harry frowned at her, "I know what a duel is, and I want back at Malfoy. If I had a problem with Ron saying something, I would have said something."

Hermione crossed her arms and looked away, not understanding how Harry wasn't thanking her for just trying to point out Ron should think before he spoke.

Harry couldn't help his mouth flopping open in shock, which Ron quickly caught sight of and laughed off. "We've only been in school for a few weeks, there's no way he'll be able to do anything damaging to us."

Harry gave a relieved smile even if he wasn't sure he agreed.

"Don't ever let him tell you you're not insightful," Tonks chuckled while gesturing at Charlie.

"Hey, he plays chess with my eldest brother, I certainly can't do that," Charlie quickly said. "So I'd never be stupid enough to call Ron anything."

Ron flushed with pleasure at the praise.

Sirius snorted in surprise, and looked up at Ron telling him, "that was the best advice you could have given."

Ron looked even more confused at him giving praise, but gave a shy smile back.

Hermione was getting even more frustrated. She seemed the only one who had a problem with them not only sneaking out of bed after hours, but fighting!

"You've got a point," Neville chuckled, "three times before you can finish one pie is incredible."

Hermione looked up hopefully, thinking someone would agree with her, and indeed it was Dumbledore, "you should take caution from her, she does seem to only be trying to help."

The boys seemed too intimidated by the headmaster to say anything back, so Sirius did it for them. "Well yeah, but Malfoy deserved this."

"Then allow him to be caught out of bed and punished," Dumbledore replied. "Though the brave act of standing up for themselves is not being ignored, and rules can not encapsulate everything." He finished with twinkling eyes at a dumbfounded Hermione.

"And there's that," Ron agreed quitely.

Neville sighed, honestly disappointed he was missing out on this fun, something he never would have believed as he would have thought himself to be on Hermione's side, he didn't want to break rules, he was too afraid of the teachers. Yet Ron and Harry had gone out of their way to stand up for him, it would be poor repayment not to tag along if given the chance.

"More sound advice," Tonks chuckled.

"That's a good point," Neville finally cautioned Ron and Harry, giving a half look at Hermione to try and cool her a bit. "You could have told Malfoy to wait till the weekend or something, at least wait a few hours in between your rule breaking."

"Yeah," Harry finally conceded the point, "we did sort of let Malfoy set the terms for this."

"If we'd tried any later, he would have called us cowards," Ron countered.

"We'd have turned it back on him; he just didn't want to face us at all," Harry replied with an almost sly smile.

Ron looked appeased enough at that idea.

Hermione didn't think it was all settled, but she gave Neville a smile for trying.

"Oh boy," Sirius muttered, already wincing at how not fun this was going to be.

"Wow, credit for determination," Tonks gave her a nod. "I mean, anyone else would have just gone to bed and let them deal with the consequences, you mean business with these rules."

Hermione wasn't sure if she was being mocked or not, but Tonks had a friendly enough smile on her heart shaped face, so she gave a smile back.

"Oooh, that was just cold," Neville shivered while Ron balked at her in outrage.

"What's your right to go interfering!" Ron snapped at her. "All you've done is tell everyone what to do and boss us around, you're not a prefect, mind your own business."

Hermione's cheeks flushed at his outrage, but her jaw was set as brown met blue. "Don't you care about anyone but yourself? This will have consequences on everyone?"

"How so? McGonagall would punish us, not you, you don't have to have your nose in everything!"

Arthur didn't want to interfere on his son's behalf, though to be honest at this point he agreed with him, but the argument was escalating so he cleared his throat hard and gave them both a look to cool it so Sirius could keep going.

Tonks was actually laughing by now, looking between the two of them with an indulgent smile.

Charlie demanded, "just what is so funny?"

"It's hilarious," Tonks insisted when she realized no one else was getting the joke. "The four of them were getting along just fine at meals before this came up, now they look like they don't want to be in the same room as each other. It's clear they can get along, but now they're following along with an argument they're going to have in the future."

"I'm going to smother you with this pillow," Charlie promised as he pointed to his weapon.

Tonks stuck her tongue out at him while Sirius kept going while he could, still looking forward more than anything to hearing Harry punch a Malfoy in the face.

"What is with this lot and expulsion?" Remus muttered for his own amusement. "They seem far too concerned with that train."

Sirius actually considered for a moment playing along and responding, considered it again, and decided Remus making him laugh twice wasn't enough for him to forgive him for ten years of abandonment yet.

"Oh yeah, that'll happen," Charlie nodded as the idea just occurred to him.

"And how would you know that?" Arthur asked with a grin. "Exactly how many of my kids go wandering around these corridors after hours?"

"Err," Charlie muttered, deciding against answering that for his own sake.

"Just wait there till she comes back," Charlie shrugged.

"Why?" Everybody asked her.

Hermione opened, then closed her mouth as she failed to answer a question, she had no clue. Logically it would make more sense to stay there and wait for the portrait to come back, it was the guard of Gryffindor tower and even after hours it was its job to be there eventually rather than being caught with these boys.

Ron looked like she was trying to force feed him a live canary, she could not actually believe they'd go along with that!

Hermione was honestly confused with that one herself, not at all understanding why she'd think these boys would cover for her after ignoring her advice this whole day.

Neville looked just as surprised as anyone, not least because he was being compared to a cat no one liked.

"Aw, you poor dear," Tonks cooed to him. "Did you forget the password to your dorm? I hear first years complaining about that all the time."

Neville gave her a sheepish nod, he didn't need the book to tell him that was a likely scenario.

Neville couldn't help a shy smile, not at all embarrassed to admit his fear of a ghost in favor of tagging along with them.

"Don't let Ginny hear you say that," Charlie smirked, "I heard Bill mentioning it last summer, and she kept asking him to teach it to her. You'll be next."

Hermione had a small smile on her face, but refused to admit if she'd been going to say that, or continuing telling them all off.

"That's always a good idea," Sirius nodded along with Harry.

Remus had his head cocked to the side in concern, he didn't really think that was true, Malfoy postured too much but he had to have some kick to him, right?

"That is the most cowardly, Slytherin thing I have ever seen in my life!" Tonks snapped in outrage.

"Of all the dirty handed, sneaky little-"

"Charlie," his father cut him off before his language could get too bad, but even Arthur couldn't put any force into the tone. He agreed with his kid.

Sirius sat there dumbfounded for a few beats as he tried to wrap his head around this, but it honestly wasn't that surprising either. Snivilius had spent his every waking moment trying to get them caught, creating his own plan to have it done honestly was a step up.

The three boys were still whispering mutinously to each other as Sirius kept going.

"I'm surprised mirrors didn't instantly crack from that ugly face," Tonks snapped, "it's no wonder the kids are."

"Oh no," Neville moaned. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry-"

"It's alright Neville," Ron sighed even as he patted him on the shoulder. "I'm still blaming Malfoy for getting us into this."

"So you're not going to demand Hermione teach you the curse of the bogies to put on me?" Neville asked hopefully.

His joke made the other two start laughing, at least putting a little less tension everywhere else in here.

"Oh yes Harry, I'm so sure that helped," Ron turned on Harry, causing the three to laugh all the harder.

The others were astounded they were sitting here cracking jokes, Hermione most of all as she thought she'd burst into tears any second at the thought of getting caught and being in so much trouble.

"There is a time and place for I told you so's Hermione," Tonks snickered. "Now is not that time."

"Trust her on this one," Charlie's face was all sour. "She's perfected that timing."

"Yes he's gathered that," Ron rolled his eyes at her, "just because he hasn't memorized the dictionary doesn't mean he can't put that together."

Hermione flushed with even more anger, of course he'd never admit she was right.

"Oh boy," Charlie shook his head in pity for his kid brother.

"They're doomed," Tonks agreed.

"Pleading does nothing to him," Remus imparted his wisdom on the youths. "You're more likely to make a deal with him."

Arthur honestly wanted to ask Remus not to encourage his kids to be doing any form of interacting with that poltergeist, but he restrained himself because it was true.

"Oh, no, I was wrong," Tonks gave the kids a look like she was writing their eulogies. "Now you're doomed."

"Note to self, don't take swipes at Peeves," Ron muttered to himself, wishing he had a better handle on his temper in that moment.

Dumbledore suddenly wasn't listening so absentmindedly, his mind flashing as he realized just what corridor exactly those kids were on...

And the only locked door on that corridor...oh this could be very interesting...

"Don't you ever call me dramatic," Tonks turned to her friend, "not when your little brother is over there acting like that."

"You're still more dramatic," Charlie told her back deadpan.

Charlie let out a surprised whistle as he told her, "congratulations on further rule breaking using a charm that isn't taught until the end of first year."

"Guess she'll help us along so as not to get caught," Ron pointed out with a superior smirk Hermione ignored.

Dumbledore definitely wasn't paying the kids mind anymore, tapping his thumbs together in deep contemplation as he wondered if he would have used such a low level spell to enchant the lock on that door, if perhaps he was in fact thinking in a few months what was occurring to him now, that this could be very informative to Harry if this played out right...

That indeed was confirming his suspicions.

"Oh," Sirius got a calculating look in place.

"What's that look," Harry asked quickly.

Sirius appraised him for a moment, before he actually smiled again and said, "just hope I'm right is all."

"He didn't tell us!" Ron whooped with happiness.

"Even Peeves will help out the students if Filch annoys him enough," Sirius agreed as he kept smiling at Harry.

Remus muttered something absently at his side about how Harry really was going to turn out like James if this was how it was starting, and Sirius had to try very hard and force himself not to agree.

Dumbledore made a soft humming noise under his breath of concern, trying to discern why Fluffy had not already attacked those children the moment they entered. Then he replayed the moment in his head, particularly Peeves' 'sing-song voice' and decided that the Poltergeist had helped them in more ways than one this night. Still, he kept his attention on every little word, now very curious if Harry would notice any particular details of why that dog was in the room...

Sirius couldn't help a note of concern starting to creep into his voice, wondering what had Harry and Neville so upset.

Hardly anyone noticed, or even bothered to question why this stranger would be worried about Harry at all, they were all thinking the same thing at that moment.

.

"Oh bloody hell," Remus groaned, burying his face in his fingers and just staying like that in shock until Sirius found his voice again and kept at it.

Both Dumbeldore and Arthur were so intent on listening neither even thought to rebuke him for the cursing.

Sirius' voice started and stopped many times through that description, until finally he faded out there at the end, turning vacant eyes instead on little ten year old Harry and starting to count the hours he had left for his life.

"You have what in that castle!" Remus began shouting at once, the only thing that could have knocked Sirius out of his concern for Harry, was turning to watch Moony lose his shit. Remus tore their headmaster a new one of how dangerous that bloody thing was to have in the castle, Sirius could even detect some of the things he wanted to throw in about how Remus hadn't even been inside during his worst moments so how had Dumbledore thought this was okay? Sirius was impressed. Honestly surprised, and kind of warmed that this proved Remus really did still care about Harry. Up until this moment, he honestly hadn't even been convinced of that.

Arthur agreed with every word Remus was saying, even if he didn't think the expletives thrown in were necessary, and honestly wanted to throw a few in himself. It was bloody dangerous for not just his son who'd crept in there using a first year charm and could be killed before anyone was the wiser, but for every kid in that castle. The twins were the first to come to his mind, as he knew for a fact they would have poked their heads in there at some point as well. It was only the vaguest of comforts that Ron had made mention of them past that first night there when they would have gone looking. The only thing stopping the father from going over and smothering his youngest to keep him safe at his side was his brain telling his clenched up muscles to knock it off, he was sitting there fine now, no need to embarrass him in front of his friends.

Dumbledore took the shouting in stride, taking in the words all while still calculating certain things out in his head, but finally cut Remus off. "The lock being so easy to access was an oversight on my part, but so long as the children keep their heads, I'm sure they will be fine."

"Keep their heads," Arthur demanded faintly. "I can't say I'd keep my head when confronted with a cerberus!"

Charlie and Tonks were looking more confused than mutionius as they tried to understand why Dumbledore would have that thing there at all, it must house some kind of purpose, but still they kept a worried eye on all four kids who sat still as status like a dog was about to spring at their throat any second.

Charlie cleared his throat loudly before the argument could continue, "right, can we have this argument after this chapter, I'd feel better hearing about Ron and his friends getting out of there first."

When the silence did linger, Sirius had to give himself a start to realize that meant he should continue. He didn't honestly want to, now that he was over his own shock at this happening he'd rather help Remus start taking Dumbledore's limbs off, but that Charlie kid had a point, he'd feel better about it once he knew Harry survived this night.

.

Ron made a wild attempt at a laugh, giving Harry a commiserating pat on the shoulder for the joking comment, but he was the only one who did, everyone else was still too tense and silent, all hands reaching for wands though there was no threat actually in here.

Sirius still sounded very terrifying, his voice interlaced with a growl through the rest of his reading and flashing protective eyes at the kids on the couch as he couldn't get the image out of his head of that beast chasing his godson through the passageways of that castle, but now he was in the common room, he was safe. Now he could murder Dumbledore preemptively instead of having to do it for revenge.

Before he could get started on that, Remus gave him a light poke and indicated the book, and Sirius was surprised at the rush of familiarity that gave him. Still, he agreed nonetheless with Remus' wordless prompting, he'd finish his chapter first, under duress.

Neville had that same look on his face now, and he hadn't even seen the beast. All four kids looked like they'd been frozen in time, unsure how they were supposed to be reacting to anything.

Harry did the same for Ron, forcing out an attempt at a laugh that still no one else bothered with.

"Priorities," Tonks nodded along.

Dumbledore was a tad disappointed, he had been hoping Harry would put a bit more thought past the dog, but still held out hope the boy would put more thought into this once the shock had worn off.

"Expelled is worse than getting killed now?" Remus looked at her, finally stopping his glaring to glance at her and make sure he'd heard that right.

She flushed and didn't meet his eyes, and Remus felt some twitching concerns begin in him for Hermione now.

Dumbledore managed to hide his pleased smile behind his beard, very happy indeed Harry had gotten there at the end. He hoped Hermione became a more permanent friend to Harry now, she would obviously be very good and helpful to him if things progressed in the way he was thinking now.

Sirius slammed the book shut and got to his feet in a towering temper. "Are you out of your mind! What on earth are you thinking, having that thing where kids can get to it?"

Dumbledore's twinkling star went icy as he matched Black's cold gray's. "My reasonings are my own Sirius, I should not have to explain myself to you," then he turned to Arthur and continued in more normal tones, "but I will admit that a friend of mine has asked me for a favor this year, and this dog is helping me fulfill it. I do agree something more powerful should have been put on the lock, or perhaps more security to make sure such accidents don't happen again."

The others just sat there staring at him, they really couldn't decide if that was a good enough answer for what had almost happened to the kids.

HPHPHPHP

*Fun fact! In the movie, it was Neville's cloak he'd forgotten. Everyone else in the Great Hall was wearing one but him.

  
  



	12. Not So Nice Lunch Break

Sirius was still broiling at feeling dismissed, but before anything else could be said he was interrupted.

"Before we start the next chapter, how about some lunch," Arthur offered, he'd seen Ron rubbing at his stomach and always knew what that meant.

Most everyone happily agreed at once, and Arthur took no notice as Black once again seemed to decide he was going to skip the meal. Arthur did notice Harry watching him go with another disappointed look, and Arthur wanted to blame Black no matter how illogically for the fact that Harry once again hardly ate a bite. What was it that made Harry so clearly want that convict around?

Dumbledore seemed to notice as well, as once he'd finished his plate he left in search of the man.

He found him in his room again, but wasted no time beating around the bush as he said, "you have something you wish to say to me Sirius?"

Those darkened gray eyes were still sharp as ever, no matter the extra shadows his stint had given him. Sirius took to his feet at once, pacing in front of his bed for a few moments before he hissed, "yes, yes I do. What right do you have keeping Harry at those Dursleys? I'm his godfather, which I have every intention of telling him when I'm let out, and then it'll be Harry's decision to leave that place, which I know he'll want to." That last part was spoken with more bravado than he truly felt, after all Sirius had nothing to offer Harry, but he was sure that it must still be better than what he had there which was more nothing on top of abuse.

"I do not think that wise-" Dumbledore began, his tone pleading caution, but Sirius fired up even more.

"I don't give a damn what you think! I was loyal to you, did everything you asked, and you couldn't even be bothered to get me a trial! I sat in there for ages before I finally realized no one was coming for me! And what on earth did you say to Remus to have him thinking I'd done this as well!"

Dumbledore's voice cracked like thunder as he stated back in no uncertain terms, "You cannot blame anyone but yourself for your time in that prison. I was never informed of the switch, and your rash actions are what got you caught when you said nothing to anyone. It is not right for you to be blaming me, and Remus, for your temper. Now I said I would see to it you were released for the wrongful imprisonment, but if you continue acting in this manner Black then I feel I will have to take certain precautions to see if the damage done to you is too late to fix." Clearly he found the matter settled, as he spun on his heel for the door.

Sirius blanched and stumbled back in shock as he realized what Dumbledore was implying, and then decided he had no other choice but to keep his mouth shut as Dumbledore left. Sirius didn't realize his knees were shaking until he'd sunk down onto the bed, moving to run his hand through his hair in an age old habit, but then hissing in pain as he used his damaged hand that wasn't happy touching anything.

He sensed him approaching before he came in, but even then he still couldn't bring himself to react as Remus came into the room with another plate of food. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, shuffling his feet and clearly waiting for something, but Sirius wasn't going to help him. So what if he'd finally proved he did care about Harry, he'd had ten years as a free man to act on that and had done nothing about it. Sirius wanted to blame him as much as Dumbledore for Harry being at the Dursleys, Remus should have done something to keep Harry out of there. As the last Marauder standing, the least he could have done was check in on Harry instead of letting whatever form of abuse was going on continue.

Remus watched the hate curling on Sirius' features, and he knew he deserved every second of it, but still he swallowed around a dry throat and couldn't stop himself pleading, "I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry."

Sirius did look over at him then, blinking in surprise.

Remus played back through that first conversation between the two, and he realized he hadn't apologized! He'd been so shocked about everything else, he'd thought it a million times in a second in his head, but he hadn't actually apologized to Sirius yet!

Quickly stumbling forward and nearly spilling all the food off the plate, Remus started repeating that as many times as he could also around getting out, "Sirius, I really am- I don't know how to say it enough, but I am so sorry. For letting you, for thinking that you-"

Something twitched in that lifeless face, Remus wanted to believe it was even something resembling forgiveness even if he never again deserved it, but then his face closed back off into the emotionless mask he'd been housing for the majority of his time here and still said nothing.

When finally Remus stammered himself into silence, he offered the plate as a modicum of a peace offering, whispering, "are you ever going to actually eat?"

Sirius reached awkwardly forward and took the plate with his less dominant hand, but set it aside on his bed without comment.

Before he could forget, Remus also showed what was in his other hand, even though it was already slowly starting to drip making it fairly obvious, "I ah, got you some more ice too, hope the swellings have been going down."

Sirius plucked a bit of fruit from the plate and didn't even acknowledge it.

Clearly pleasantries weren't making an impact, and Remus was honestly starting to feel a bit of his temper rise. Okay, fine, if he was going to be that way, he'd go right for the jugular of the problem. "Sirius, what happened to-" he cut himself off there, because he couldn't figure out how to end that. Peter just sounded too casual for the blood lust he wanted.

Sirius seemed to understand anyways as he whispered, "dead. Blew himself up in the explosion."

Remus felt his shoulders sag for more than one reason. Number one of which was that he'd gotten an answer. By this time he'd half convinced himself Sirius would never speak directly to him again! There was also some lingering shock that anyone he knew could die in such a way, but not a very small part of him was also doing a victory dance, while the rest of him was honestly disappointed he hadn't suffered more for what he'd done.

Sirius was still poking the food on the plate restlessly, clearly only begrudgingly doing that but looking for something to do other than look at Remus, but Remus wasn't going to stop now that he'd gotten even one toenail into Sirius again. "You ah, you going to tell me what really happened-"

"No." Came the flat reply.

Remus rankled at that, he really was getting angry now. He'd never deny Sirius had a right to his anger, but dammit it all if Remus was going to stand here and be deprived of something he had a right to. "What do you mean no? I want to know what happened Sirius-"

"Then go ask Dumbledore," came the icy reply, and if Remus hadn't been watching him he would have been sure that voice had come from a complete stranger. "That's where you get all of your real facts from isn't it."

Remus took a step back as if Sirius had just stabbed him. He was in fact sure that's what had just happened. And yet... again Sirius was right. He had believed Dumbledore over Sirius, he should have come to Azkaban long before now and heard his best friend's side of the story, but he never had because he'd believed Dumbledore.

Sirius clearly cared nothing for whatever state Remus was in, finally choosing a piece of meat with the most fat on it, still dripping from juices, and tearing into it so violently it looked almost canine. Moments later and the majority of the food was gone as well. He stood with the plate in hand and left Remus standing there, more lost than before.


	13. HALLOWEEN

Sirius set the plate down in the sink where it quickly vanished like it had before, and then entered the reading room, but couldn't stop a smile at what he saw.

Harry was happily chatting away with Ron and Neville, and not in these long years could Sirius ever have conjured up such a happy yet simple image of James' son just smiling like that.

The feeling was abruptly stopped by the feel of eyes watching him, and it wasn't hard to spot Dumbeldore staring shrewdly at him, clearly waiting for him to do something.

Sirius briefly considered skulking back to his corner to wait out the rest of these books, it wasn't hard to realize that any interaction of his was to be limited or Dumbledore's threat would be a reality, and yet hiding had never been Sirius' style and that would be what it felt like he was doing. Still, he refused to indulge Remus if he was going to continue to try and pretend like nothing was wrong either, so he walked over to his perch from before and sat awkwardly on the arm of a sofa across from Harry.

Remus entered a few moments later and Sirius blithely ignored whatever look he refused to acknowledge on Remus' face as he took his own seat, and Dumbledore cleared his throat so that the reading could get started.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, were you wanting a turn?" Tonks asked as she picked up the discarded book, thinking of asking before she went again.

"I don't see why not," he agreed pleasantly as he plucked it away. When he read the chapter title though, everyone grimaced for poor Harry finally flinching in unease at that date being reminded to him.

"Oh Merlin," Arthur groaned as he removed his glasses and rubbed at his already tired eyes.

"I'm with dad," Charlie shook his head at his younger brother, "who comes across a three headed dog and wants another go?"

"Didn't say we wanted to see the dog again," Ron countered, "just that we enjoyed the fun of it all afterwards. This coming from you who thinks dragons are the next house-hold pet."

Charlie was going to keep arguing with him, there was a big difference in what he was wanting to do in a trained and secure environment than what his kid brother was up to, but was cut off by Dumbledore.

"Now, now, there's no sense in pestering the two about this when they haven't done anything yet."

Harry hadn't really been following the Weasley exchange, he'd been looking curiously at Remus and Sirius in hopes for even just a hint of what they might say in regards to what his dad might say in this situation, and saw that whatever ease they'd built before in the previous chapter had completely vanished during the break, they weren't staring at anything in this room, let alone each other, certainly not at Harry. He strained back to understand if he'd done something wrong, but surely if it had been the midnight duel they wouldn't have been so even, almost laughing before the dog incident. Sirius' argument with Dumebldroe then was still the problem, and he had no idea what to make of that. He was definitely disappointed by whatever had caused this, as he only seemed to get the best mentions of his dad whenever they were in a good mood, so now he was really hoping some mention of Quidditch came up again as that seemed to be at least friendly territory for both of them.

"Or both," Hermione couldn't stop herself pointing out.

Harry and Hermione exchanged a surprised, yet pleasant enough smile at having mimicked each other's thoughts, though Ron rolled his eyes at the pair.

"Well obviously it's that thing from Gringotts," Tonks mused, "I'm just trying to understand why it's there this year. It never has been before."

"Clearly Dumbledore knows," Charlie reminded her softly, "he's just not sharing."

The two exchanged a significant look and glanced at their headmaster, who was clearly trying to read on past the whispered conversation as if he weren't acknowledging it.

"I can absolutely agree with that, I don't want to go near it for the first time," Neville nodded along.

"Oh come on Neville, even knowing we'll all make it out okay," Ron wheedled, ignoring his dad's wince that he was even pretending like he wanted to go back.

Neville still shook his head furiously, he'd have enough nightmares without the live version.

Hermione flushed but held her head high, snapping, "well if you don't want to listen to my advice I'll just stop giving it!"

Ron looked pleased enough with that statement, but Harry at least felt a little bad, though not enough to tell his friend otherwise.

Because Harry was watching for it, he was sure he was the only one who noticed Remus and Sirius taking some interest in the story again. He wasn't sure why, but they seemed to find particular pleasure in his interactions with Malfoy, and he raked his mind back to think if they'd ever given a reason. All he could come up with was Dumbledore's mention of how his dad had been a bit of a trouble maker, and if Remus and Sirius were his dad's friends, then that surely meant that any trouble making they heard, and consequential revenge fell into that, he supposed would cause some flashbacks in them.

"His new broom!" Ron whooped.

"Oh this is going to be fantastic," Charlie wriggled around with renewed excitement, "I hope you at least got a model less than five years old, you're going to need something good."

"Where would it even have come from?" Harry asked, "it never said I was paying for it."

"Think McGonagall got it," Remus offered, never growing tired speaking to Harry just to watch him turn and watch him eagerly. "She did offer you onto the team, never let Wood hold the tryouts even, so I'd assume she ponied up for this herself, as a welcome gift onto her team."

Harry flushed in embarrassment at anything like this kind of extravagant gift, and wished dearly the woman was here now so he could express that wasn't necessary, he could have used his own new found gold.

Sirius couldn't deny it anymore, he turned back and actually watched the old man resentfully, but if there was one good memory he could still retain, it was thoughts of James flying, and now he hoped he'd still be able to cling to the same thing for even the smallest moment.

"You've got something he hasn't," Neville pointed out, "I'm sure that's a first for him." It was a first for Harry too, though that had started with his Hogwarts letter, this really was something he'd had before Dudley.

Harry couldn't help laughing, he couldn't remember owning something that was so much clearly better than someone else's any time in his life.

All three redheads flushed with anger, and shame. They were proud of their life, but that constantly being brought up in here seemed to make the room feel ten extra degrees hotter every time, like they were expecting someone to turn and look at them pityingly. Thankfully no one had yet, they only seemed as angry as they were at the comments.

Hermione huffed, not understanding why she'd been mocked for telling the boys when she'd been right, when they were doing the very same thing with their laughter.

"So glad I could be of help," Neville smiled uneasily at them, but was now fighting down the impulse to go sit by Hermione. She looked awfully lonely over there all by herself, and Ron and Harry were clearly having too much fun hanging around with each other to really notice her.

Neville sighed when he saw both of them roll their eyes and Hermione flush all over again so clearly being ignored, she clearly hated that. He'd already recognized how quiet she usually was unless she was speaking of something from a book, and he wondered how she was with her own friends, and also taking note that she hadn't been mentioned of having any yet at Hogwarts any more than him.

Sirius was surprised how warmed he felt just by watching Harry glow at the description of his new broom. It was something he should have seen on Harry's face long before now, and though it had taken many years too long to see, and the moment was so soured because James wasn't here to see it. It was ruined the instant he felt tears stinging in his eyes anew at yet another thing the dementors were going to take away from him when he was forced back.

"How do you blow a bubble through a metal thing?" Ron asked.

Harry explained it as briefly, and quietly, as he could so that he could hear more about this Quidditch everyone kept going on about. Ron had indeed gone into all sorts of vivid details of the games he'd seen during lunch, but now he'd get to watch Remus and Sirius hopefully share more about his dad being involved.

Neither Remus or Sirius could stop themselves from beaming by the end of this, not only thrilled just to see Harry so elated at something he was so naturally good at, the look they could envision on their old friend's face was for the first time not completely soured by the fact that they had to be picturing it all rather than seeing it.

Harry was still eyeing them hopefully all the time, and this time Sirius noticed and told, "I don't think I can describe how proud this whole thing would make your dad. He'd take out an ad in the Prophet as a start."

Harry felt so much happiness welling up inside of him, he forgot to be embarrassed.

Harry immediately felt himself embedding this information into his mind. Even if Ron's brief and sporadic tellings of this, Harry still felt incredibly lacking on the subject, and now he knew he'd take anything he could to strike up more conversations with his dad's old friends about this sport.

It also helped to remember this in particular, as it had been mentioned that was his dad's position, and he knew he wanted to hear the most about it as well as his own.

Ron was having so much fun bouncing in place and listening to this happening he didn't bother asking what basketball was, he could ask his dad or Harry later.

"Er oh," Remus hummed in his throat.

Sirius turned automatically, wanting to tell old Moony to stop being such a worry wart, to let Harry have his fun and discover all the positions before he was thrown into the game. Then he realized what he was about to do, and Quidditch or not, Sirius clipped his mouth back shut and resolutely said nothing.

Charlie let out an appreciative whistle at that, it really was fantastic to hear Harry was such a well rounded player.

Charlie chuckled in appreciation at that, he'd made that comment about his brothers at their last practice together, and felt pleased it had stuck with Wood.

Even with her original lack of enthusiasm on the game, Hermione couldn't help but wish she did have a few, dozen, books on hand to be looking all of this up as they went as this particular aspect didn't make much sense to her logically. If that ball was such a trump card in the game, it made the rest feel seemingly pointless, there must be something she was missing, and she hated that. She recognized there was someone she could ask, if she could bother talking to Ron without wanting to tell him he was being an idiot again.

Arthur chuckled in surprise, as that match had gone on while he'd been in school, and he was amused the story was still circulating.

"We've every confidence you'll do brilliantly," Tonks said at once, "there's no way so much Quidditch talent would have you doing otherwise."

Harry gave her a smile for that, but knew he wasn't as sure. He'd so enjoyed the smiles he got and how happy it made Remus and Sirius when they mentioned Quidditch in regards to his dad, but what if Harry did bad during his first game? Would they stop wanting to share such things? His first time probably had been a fluke hadn't it, and he was more likely going to fall off that broom in front of a whole crowd and embarrass himself to death there and in here.

Harry was sure he was far more delighted than Wood now. His worry wasn't entirely erased; he most likely wouldn't be as good in the actual game, but it really did seem he'd finally found flying, something he was naturally good at in this magical world!

Charlie was beaming at the praise, but even still said, "nah, I much prefer what I did get."

Sirius met Harry's eyes, and nodded in solemn agreement.

Harry smiled back at the attention, but was honestly confused why Sirius would be agreeing with him like that. Was it possible Sirius really knew how he felt, that he'd had some kind of place outside of this castle as well that just didn't compare to a home. Harry hadn't even been there yet and he was already imagining these magical corridors with more love than he did his own cupboard, could Sirius be the same way?

Hermione focused back in with razor sharp attention, if she couldn't have any books on the extras of this place, she would certainly retain any details she could of what was offered of these lessons in class where she knew she could really show her worth.

Harry, Remus, and Sirius all flinched in unison about this date. Harry had never been a big fan of the holiday to begin with, he'd spent every one of them in his cupboard while listening to Dudley complain loudly that he wanted to go back out again and get more candy. Now he learned his parents had died this day, he'd become an orphan and all this had started, it felt cruel to refer to this as a holiday.

Neville looked hurt and confused at that, but Harry quickly reassured, "I'm sure it's just because I don't want to have that chat in class, whatever it is you want to say."

"And since it's most likely about the giant dog, I don't blame him for wanting to put it off," Ron chuckled in agreement.

Tonks laughed in surprise as she informed, "but Charms is the best place to have secret conversations, everyone's always so loud and involved in their own thing."

All the kids watched her avidly as she bestowed this advice, then Harry turned to Neville and said, "well then, I'm sorry for trying to avoid you."

Neville smiled, Harry had already been forgiven.

Ron and Hermione scowled at each other at once, they were already having issues being in the same room together, they couldn't imagine working on one thing without more rankling moments.

"Could do without seeing those expressions in real life," Neville murmured to Harry who nodded in silent agreement. None of them were still sure why she was even here, except it seemed to tell them all when they were doing something wrong.

"Trust him on that one," Tonks sighed as she rubbed at her chest.

"I told you not to take that dare," Charlie rolled his eyes at her, "it was your own fault."

Harry sighed, it was very clear by now Charms wasn't his strong suit like his mother's.

Remus burst out laughing in surprise, having to repress the urge to ask James and Sirius if that had helped them when they blew up their homework.

"That wasn't clever," Neville shook his head at him, "challenging her like that, what did you hope to accomplish? I can already tell you she knows what she's doing."

"I was just trying to help," Hermione agreed, her face flushing with remembered hurt of every student in her primary school gaining the same tone when they spoke to her as well. She hadn't any friends there either, and she'd really been hoping that this time could different.

Ron flushed at them ganging up on him.

"At some point you've got to wonder why he's surprised," Charlie muttered to Tonks agreement. It may be in the teachers best interests, instead of praising Hermione every time, to perhaps give a little attention to other students' attempts. But to be fair, they weren't in those lessons, so Harry could have just been noticing the first.

"Ronald!" Arthur snapped, "that was absolutely uncalled for, apolo-" but it was too late, Hermione had sprinted from the room, sniffing.

Ron blanched in shock, muttering, "I didn't mean to make her cry."

"Well you need to go apologize," the father demanded, reminding Ron of two summers ago when he'd pushed Ginny and she'd fallen down crying, "now."

Ron sighed, wanting to protest he hadn't technically said the thing yet, but he certainly had been making enough comments about her in here he could see how she'd already drawn this conclusion he thought that, and he hadn't exactly called out to her as she'd run off.

He found her in the room she'd used last night, sitting on the bed and already furiously trying to wipe her streaming eyes with her bedding. When she spotted him at the door, she at once snapped, "go away."

Ron hesitated in the doorway, but it wasn't just the look he knew his dad would give him if he didn't come back with her. In Hermione's red rimmed eyes, Ron realized he really had hurt her feelings, and he felt bad for it. Still, he wasn't entirely sure how to apologize, so he at least tried to explain that. "I, well I am sorry you took me saying that to heart, I don't mean it, honestly! It's just, I bicker with my brothers all the time, they say rotten stuff to me, and I do to them, but we don't really mean it and my Mum's always been around to remind me to stop before I can keep going." He started rubbing at the back of his neck which felt hot, but that was all he had to say.

Hermione sniffed a bit more, pulling some tissues from her bedside cabinet and blowing her nose purposefully this time before looking back and saying in a much clearer voice, "yes well, I don't have any siblings, and the other kids at school say terrible things like that to me all the time. I suppose when I found out I was magic and that's why I could do all these odd things, well things would be different."

"They will be!" Ron yelped at once. "I mean, I could already tell me and you could get along if you'd loosen up a bit."

"You and I," Hermione corrected at once, "and you might be a touch more bearable if you'd think before you spoke."

Ron looked exasperated at her, but held his hand out without commenting on that. "In fact, I'll be your friend. Clearly you'll at least be of some help with whatever mess I get in with Harry."

Hermione flushed, and couldn't really decide how much of a nice offer that was. She certainly didn't want to pretend to be friends with someone who only wanted her help with homework which had happened in the past, but his round blue eyes were honest and sincere enough about hurting her feelings, so she took it as she rose and shook.

The two entered both smiling, though having not come up with anything to chat about quite yet. Still, Arthur was happy when Ron had clearly made amends with the girl, and he invited the girl to sit with him on the boys couch. It was now a tight squeeze for all of them on the one, but no one was complaining as Hermione gave a shy grin at Harry and Neville who quickly returned it.

Everyone else couldn't help smiling at the scene as Dumbledore continued.

Hermione's face flushed even more red to be caught crying twice in a row, but then Ron piped up, "what a prick I turn out to be, I hope you get through to me."

Hermione actually, giggled. She was as surprised as anyone as it escaped her.

Arthur was shaking his head in exasperation at his youngest son, wishing he'd gotten through to him how indelicate that was in every way, and Charlie wasn't being subtle about giving his brother the stank eye, but both realized Ron really was trying to make her feel better now so still said nothing.

Neville sighed deeply, meeting her eyes and whispering, "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that alone."

Hermione turned pink as she realized Neville wasn't speaking of their future tense, it was very clear he could tell now this had happened to her before, but she managed a brilliant enough smile now as she truly hoped that was going to change.

Her smile began to slip, and she had to forcefully remind herself she hadn't made friends with them yet, of course they'd forget about her so easily.

Harry wanted to prove they hadn't now as he turned to her and said, "I honestly doubt I'll ever be in much of a Halloween spirit, what do you normally do on the holiday?"

"I've never been one for dressing up much," Hermione shrugged, "I often enjoy reading a few spooky novels on that day."

"Shocker," Ron rolled his eyes, but quickly caught himself and said, "but I love a good scary story, so maybe you could share a few."

Dumbledore felt his mouth twitching into a frown in concern behind his beard already, but he kept a calm tone as he pressed on, hoping Quirrell was merely panicking over nothing.

There were several heartbeats worth of silence and a mask of shocked faces. No one seemed sure how to react to this news except stunned silence, except Sirius.

He began growling at once, a primal noise promising violence would be inflicted if his question wasn't answered when he directed at Dumbledore, "how would a troll get in?"

"I have not the faintest idea," and Sirius' growl was at once curbed by the true sounds of concern in the headmaster's voice, "but I can assure you the student's safety will be my top priority."

Remus couldn't help sneering in disgust such a useless thing had a teaching position like this.

"But wouldn't it be safer for us to stay where we are!" Hermione squealed.

"Anything below the first floor is too dangerous," Arthur soothed, "I'm sure there are plans in place for events like this."

The three boys though exchanged a suddenly wide eyed look as they realized not everyone was safest where they were, Hermione didn't know about the troll!

Arthur beamed with pride for his boy, extremely glad he was taking this so seriously.

"He would never," Charlie scoffed, "Peeves plays his jokes, but he'd never endanger his home."

The boys hadn't been the only one to have realized this already, Remus had as well and he was now watching the girl with concern. He was banking on Percy doing a headcount or some such of at least the first years and realizing she was missing.

"Wait, you what!" Arthur yelped, fighting back the urge to get to his feet and go chasing after Ron. "Why on earth wouldn't you have just told Percy?"

"Didn't want to get in trouble for sneaking away," Ron shrugged like that was obvious. Why was anyone concerned, the troll was downstairs.

Charlie was biting his lip to stop himself snapping at his brother as well and Tonks gave his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze for his concern. She might not have any siblings, but was long since used to watching the Weasleys looking out for their own.

Both elder Weasley's actually relaxed at the idea though, if it wasn't Percy then at least Fred and George should realize their brother wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"What's he doing there?" Sirius barked in disgust. He couldn't help the tense tone, he wasn't going to feel better about what he was doing until that troll was not in the same building as his godson. It was probably ridiculous to be so concerned, but the emotion would not ebb away. Maybe it was because it was so new to him again, maybe it was because he knew he couldn't scold Harry for doing this both because he hadn't really a right and he'd be doing the exact same thing. Either way, he wasn't masking keeping a protective eye on him.

Dumbledore merely gave a noncommittal hum as an answer, watching the pages he was reading very carefully now. He trusted Snape above all others in that school, and he also knew which girls bathroom those boys would be near, the one right on the third floor charms classroom where the Stone was being hidden. It made sense to him he'd send Professor Snape to go and check on that, to make sure this wasn't a diversionary tactic on someone's part to get the Stone. He chose not to explain this though, he still wasn't sure he trusted everyone in here enough to divulge such things.

"I'm sure he must have a reason," Arthur couldn't help but say, he had no ill will towards him and though not fond of his behaviour still saw him as a teacher doing something important.

Hermione forced herself not to feel hurt that these boys had once again been derailed from her. She really was flattered beyond words they were coming to get her, and couldn't believe the rules they were bending to come to her aid after everything that had happened between them.

"Oh no," Remus whispered, convinced he must have heard that wrong.

"No," Charlie got out a faded whisper while his dad couldn't even pretend anymore, he beckoned to Ron who couldn't even find it in himself to protest as he got up and went to sit next to his father. It was clear he needed his youngest in arms reach, as a reminder Ron was still breathing and alive in his arms.

Sirius was vibrating in his seat as he fought the compulsion not to mimic Arthur, to go over to his godson right now and keep a hand on his beating chest for that reassurance. He didn't care Harry would have no idea why he was doing it, gave not a thought to how Dumbledore would not approve, he just needed that reassurance Harry was still alive now. The only thing that stopped him was Remus. He jerked away on instinct when he'd reached for him, but it did give him pause as he realized he might end up scaring Harry suddenly wanting to be so close to him, and that was the last thing Sirius wanted.

Dumbledore wasn't trying to hide his worry for his students as he kept going in a steady voice, surely they would realize the troll wasn't where they were told and he'd find a way to follow it before any harm was done.

"No, it's not," Tonks grumbled, bouncing in place as she kept wildly trying to come up with ways to keep these poor kids away from this. Her movements became so wild she toppled off her seat, causing a momentary distraction as she quickly sat back down and forced herself to smile at the still alive kids.

Hermione gasped as she pressed shaking hands to her mouth, her brain completely shutting down now as she realized she may not have to worry about having no friends at Hogwarts long!

Ron couldn't help leaning just a bit closer into his dad now, he'd never wanted to do something so stupid as go chasing after a troll!

Sirius was quickly losing his fight with himself! If Harry didn't run in and right back out with that girl, he was going to pull that kid to his side whether he understood why or not!

Dumbledore felt his eyes widen in surprise as he watched young Harry grasp hold of the situation so fast, and react perfectly. The only information he'd ever been given was that it was stupid, and he'd at once latched onto the best way of keeping it off the girl. Harry Potter was indeed going to be an interesting boy.

Sirius couldn't fight it anymore, and got to his feet and began towards Harry, but at the last moment realized what he was doing and instead turned back to his seat but just couldn't force himself to remain still there either, so he began an insane pacing back and forth between the two spots.

They were all so distracted and tense about what they were hearing, it really was hard to concentrate on anything else, even whatever Sirius Black was doing. All except Harry, who kept watching this man with growing concern and now had to fight the urge to ask if he'd like to sit next to him just to at least somehow return a kindness for all that had been shared about his father with him. Clearly though sitting wasn't what he needed right now though, so instead Harry just tried to give him a smile whenever he came close with his pacing.

Hermione didn't look any better now, scooting closer to Neville all the time as the nearest available alive person she could shrink into from fright. No knowledge, no nothing was coming to her except a stunned fear of how she was fixing to die!

Charlie jerked so sharply he nearly hurt Tonks, and finally lost his own fight, racing to his brother's side and pressing himself close to him so that Ron was now sandwiched in between the pair. Ron didn't look embarrassed about it anymore, he was now as convinced as Hermione he was fixing to die.

Sirius' knees finally gave out, and he couldn't hold it in anymore as he lost the fight on the arm of the sofa where Harry was, sliding up onto that perch and glancing down at the kid all at the same time to make sure he wasn't edging away in fright. Harry did the opposite, and smiled up at him with that same dimple in his chin James always had when he promised Sirius they weren't going to get caught, and those green eyes of Lily while she scolded Sirius for not being careful enough.

Everyone else was just relieved Sirius had stopped circling them like an angry wolf they didn't care where he landed. Remus in particular finally felt like this was all going to be okay again as he watched the two now, surely nothing was going to happen to Harry, it couldn't! Snape had been in the area, surely he'd hear all this noise and come running, Harry must be safe!

Only Dumbledore paused for a moment to glance disapprovingly at this, but at the current moment he was far more concerned making sure Harry and his friends made it out of that bathroom than to say anything.

Ron made a wild attempt at a laugh while being killed by the two arms, but the noise was reassuring in itself that the pressure eased an inch.

Harry was starting to get a nasty, shivering feeling up his spine now, it was much harder to keep that reassuring smile in place while being within arms reach of that troll, and unconsciously found himself moving closer to Sirius, his hand reaching out and curling into the material of his pants leg just for some kind of contact that wasn't troll skin.

"You did it!" Charlie whispered, his arms going limp around his brother for a moment before it fully registered and he was suddenly hugging his brother tighter than ever. "Merlin's pants, you did it Ron! You knocked it out!"

"Can't, breathe-" Ron tried to gasp while his dad was no help, he still had his hand fastened into his son's shirt even as Charlie kept trying to pull him away, he didn't want to let loose of his youngest until that troll was removed altogether!

The others were almost shaking in relief as they all realized the same thing, Sirius finally feeling the small trembles somewhere on his knee and realizing what Harry had been doing, and then just as quickly looking away to hide his smile.

Dumbledore had to clear his throat for a moment before he was finally able to read on in happy light tones once more, at least this problem had been solved without injury! Now he hoped to hear of other matters, such as the true purpose of that troll being there.

"I'm glad you came out of your shock," Neville told her kindly as he patted her shoulder, seeing she was coming back now as well. Hermione thanked him with a smile, suddenly realizing Ron really wasn't her only friend.

"That is the least of his concerns," Remus muttered to himself, still watching Harry and Sirius with more happiness than he had felt in years. It still stung the way Siris was treating him even if he did know that he deserved it, but thankfully nothing was going to stop Sirius getting close to Harry while he could.

A final sigh of relief, now everyone was feeling much less tense at this situation. McGonagall alone made them all at ease. Harry was surprised then, when he no longer felt afraid for his life, why he didn't automatically want to pull away from Sirius, but still he forced his fingers to uncurl with a shy smile up at him for apology.

Sirius gave a light snort, and after only hesitating a beat, reached down and ruffled up Harry's hair as a silent promise it was completely okay with him.

Dumbledore watched for a few moments, but was struggling to come up with a polite way to ask Sirius to move away. He was scolding himself for even allowing it to come this far, it truly was not a good idea to be letting either of them grow close to each other, but then an idea popped into his head and he had to finish the chapter for it to be properly executed.

Tonks curled her lip in disgust at such a fraidy cat. He was supposed to be a teacher for crying out loud, what was the point of him even being there!

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes shrewdly at the interaction. He too was wondering at Quirrell even being up there, or anywhere besides the dungeons with the rest of his staff. Professors McGonagall and Snape were surely looking after their own students, or ah other matters, but Quirrell shouldn't have been anywhere in the area. In fact, it was quite the convenience he not only alerted the presence of the troll, but had been there at the end as well.

Remus shook his head in disbelief this had crossed Harry's mind for even a moment. Clearly he had been given a bit too much leeway at the school if that had been his first thought, but Remus couldn't find it in himself to be even a touch mad at Harry either, he'd done all this to help someone who wasn't even a friend.

"I think you're entitled," Arthur chuckled under his breath, still running his hand protectively up and down his son's back.

"Clearly Harry doesn't agree," Ron gave a shaky smile which Harry returned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tonks waved her arms around for emphasis as she gaped at the bushy haired girl. "Did you just tell a bold faced lie, to a teacher?"

Hermione went pink, but met Tonks' eyes steadily as she nodded and whispered, "they saved my life by breaking those rules, I'd be remiss not to return the favor."

There were a few beats of silence before everyone burst into giggles at her. She hardly seemed to notice, she was still gazing from Ron to Harry and smiling to herself.

"Ron can have a good enough poker face," Charlie smirked while rubbing his jaw, "but I don't know about Harry."

"I've every confidence McGonagall won't buy that," Remus shook his head fondly. "She could catch Merlin himself in a lie."

"Well I personally like this Hermione," Ron chuckled, "she seems she could be fun if she keeps this up."

"I'd take rule breaking Hermione over Snape handing out sweets," Neville chuckled in agreement while Hermione still hadn't lost her pink tinge.

"My, my, that's quite the kindness," Sirius couldn't help but shoot up his brows for his old head of house.

"As I said," Remus shrugged, "she could probably tell she was being lied to, I wouldn't be surprised if she took off the points because of that instead of really forcing Hermione to admit why she was in there."

"Now let her do what she does to the boys," Tonks pointed out as she kept watching them with a smirk.

The giggling turned into full blown laughter, they couldn't believe what McGonagall had just done for them! This truly was a night of interest for all.

Dumbledore continued chuckling privately to himself as he hurried to finish, he doubted his Professor could give quite the details this book had.

"It's a miracle you didn't pass out from the fumes," Charlie snickered in agreement.

"You're lucky to be alive," Arthur quickly corrected as he completely let go of his son, and gave him a light swat on the ear.

"Yes dad," Ron agreed at once as he rubbed at his ear but grinned up at him.

"Oh I doubt that," Hermione sighed, now fighting the urge to give both boys a hug in thanks for what they'd done. "If you remember, it went in before you locked it in, so my life was in danger before you interacted."

"Good to know she's not one to hold a grudge," Ron chuckled as Harry decided to nod and give in.

"At some point that's all there is to be said,'' Neville said wistfully. He had in no way actually wanted to be a part of that mayhem, but he couldn't deny he was a tad jealous of the clear comradery growing between the three, whereas all of his interactions so far had been embarrassing at best.

Hermione flushed brighter than ever which didn't dim her happy smile one bit. They really did become friends!

Sirius couldn't stop one more laugh all over again as he looked down at Harry and said, "well it's certainly memorable." He didn't want to move away, this was the closest he'd allowed himself to get to Harry so far and clearly the boy had nothing against it. Sirius reasoned with himself not to get too excited, he was probably just looking for more stories about James which he would of course all to happily give. No need to tell the boy the real reason Sirius wanted to get close to his godson, not until he could more openly act on it.

This was proven when Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "I think it would be best if at all possible we remain in our regular seats. Best not to overcrowd one area." He smiled at Ron, like he was trying to say he was doing this for his benefit, and Ron was more than happy to wiggle away from his family and go back to sitting with his friends which felt far more dignified.

Sirius though properly recognized what was being told, and forced himself to stretch and get back to his feet, shuffling away from his godson amidst curious eyes from everyone else.

Remus in particular gave Dumbledore a harsh look, he couldn't understand why he was trying to keep the two away from each other, but he didn't know how to go about asking without drawing attention to it yet.

  
  



End file.
